UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

x

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934


(Mark One)
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

2021


OR

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from___________to____________
Commission file number 001-39288
apph-20211231_g1.jpg
AppHarvest, Inc.

¨

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM TO

Commission File Number 001-38645

Novus Capital Corporation

(Exact name of Registrantregistrant as specified in its Charter)

charter)
Delaware84-5042965
Delaware82-5042965
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
(I.R.S.IRS Employer
Identification No.)

8556 Oakmont Lane
Indianapolis, IN
46260
500 Appalachian Way
Morehead, KY
40351
(Address of principal executive offices)(Zip Code)

(606) 653-6100
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (317) 590-6959

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:


Title of each classTrading
Symbol(s)
Name of each exchange on
which registered
Units, each consisting of oneCommon Stock, $0.0001 par value per share of common stock and one redeemable warrantNOVSUAPPHThe Nasdaq Stock Market LLC
Common stock par value $0.0001 per shareNOVSThe Nasdaq Stock Market LLC
Redeemable warrants,Warrants, each exercisable for sharesone share of common stockCommon Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per shareNOVSWAPPHWThe Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

Securities registered pursuant to Sectionsection 12(g) of the Act: Act: None


Indicate by check mark if the Registrantregistrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. YES ¨ NO
Yes o Nox

Indicate by check mark if the Registrantregistrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. YES ¨ NO
Yeso No x

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant:registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrantregistrant was required to file such reports),; and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    YES Yes x NO ¨

Noo


Indicate by check mark whether the Registrantregistrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrantregistrant was required to submit and post such files). YES
 Yes x NO ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of Registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. x

Noo

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrantregistrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitiondefinitions of “large accelerated filer”,filer,” “accelerated filer”,filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “smaller reporting“emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):


Large accelerated filer¨

x

Accelerated filer¨

Non-accelerated filerx

Small

Smaller reporting companyx

Emerging growth companyx

If an emerging growth company, indicate by the check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to sectionSection 13(a) of the Exchange Act. YES ¨ NO ¨

o

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrantregistrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of
the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C.
7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).     YES Yes o No x NO ¨

The Registrant’s units began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on May 15, 2020 and the Registrant’s shares of common stock began separate trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on June 12, 2020.


The aggregate market value of voting stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant on June 30, 2021, based on the closing price of $16.00 for shares of the Registrant’s sharescommon stock as reported by the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, was approximately $1,055,255,392. Shares of common stock outstanding, otherbeneficially owned by each executive officer, director, and holder of more than shares held by10% of our common stock have been excluded in that such persons who may be deemed affiliatesto be affiliates. This determination of the Registrant, at June 30, 2020, was $8,612,336.

affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.


As of JanuaryFebruary 25, 2021, 12,650,0002022, there were 101,372,448 shares of $.0001 par value common stock par value $0.0001 per share, were issued and outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
None.

Page



Table of Contents
1
Page
PART II25
Item 9C.
32
Item 12.
PART IV44
46

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1

CAUTIONARY




SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS


This annual report includes, and oralAnnual Report on Form 10-K (the “Annual Report”) contains statements made from time to time by representatives of the Companythat may include, forward-looking statementsconstitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. We have based theseAll statements contained in this Annual Report other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, our business strategy and plans, and our objectives for future operations, are forward-looking statements. The words“believes,” “expects,” “intends,” “estimates,” “projects,” “anticipates,” “will,” “plan,” “design,” “may,” “should,” or similar language are intended to identify forward-looking statements on our current expectations. These statements speak only as of the date of this Annual Report and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject toinvolve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about usother important factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by suchthe forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identifyWe have based these forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue,” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Such statements include, but are not limited to, possible business combinations and the financing thereof, and related matters, as well as all other statements other than statements of historical fact included in this annual report. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, those described in our other Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings. Forward-looking statements in this annual report may include, for example, statements about:

• our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;

• our ability to complete our initial business combination;

• our expectations around the performance of the prospective target business or businesses;

• our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;

• our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination, as a result of which they would then receive expense reimbursements;

• our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination;

• our pool of prospective target businesses;

• the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential acquisition opportunities;

• our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;

• the lack of a market for our securities;

• the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance;

• the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or

• our financial performance.

The forward-looking statements contained in this annual report are basedlargely on our current expectations and beliefs concerningprojections about future developmentsevents and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be thosefinancial trends that we have anticipated.believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These forward-looking statements involveinclude, without limitation, statements about:


our financial and business performance, including financial projections and business metrics and any underlying assumptions thereunder;
our ability to obtain funding for our future operations;
changes in our strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects and plans;
our ability to successfully construct controlled environment agriculture facilities, which may be subject to unexpected costs and delays and obtaining necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms;
our business, expansion plans and opportunities, including CEA technology and future expected produce;
our future capital requirements and sources and uses of cash;
the outcome of any known and unknown litigation and regulatory proceedings;
the implementation, market acceptance and success of our business model;
our ability to scale in a numbercost-effective manner;
developments and projections relating to our competitors and industry;
the impact of health epidemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, on our business and the actions we may take in response thereto;
our expectations regarding our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection and not infringe on the rights of others;
our ability to maintain our status as a Certified B Corporation;
changes in applicable laws or regulations;and
other risks and uncertainties (someset forth in this Annual Report.

You should refer to the “Summary of which are beyond our control) or other assumptionsRisks Affecting Our Business” below and Item 1A. "Risk Factors" section of this Annual Report for a discussion of important factors that may cause our actual results or performance to bediffer materially different from those expressed or implied by theseour forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” Should one or moreAs a result of these risks orfactors, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this Annual Report will prove to be accurate. Furthermore, if our forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. In light of the significant uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements.statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame or at all. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

ii

by law. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this Annual Report.


PART I

References

Unless the context indicates otherwise, references in this annual reportAnnual Report to the “Company,” “AppHarvest,” “we,” “us,” “company”“our” and similar terms refer to AppHarvest, Inc. (f/k/a Novus Capital Corporation) and its consolidated subsidiaries (including Legacy AppHarvest). References to “Novus” refer to the predecessor company prior to the consummation of the Business Combination.

Industry and Market Data

We obtained the industry data and market data included in this Annual Report from independent third party
surveys, market research, publicly available information, reports of governmental agencies and industry publications and surveys. All of management’s estimates presented herein are based upon management’s review of independent third-party surveys and industry publications prepared by a number of sources and other publicly available information. All of the market data used in this Annual Report involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. We believe that the information from these industry publications and surveys included in this Annual Report is reliable. The industry in which we operate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in the section titled “Risk Factors.” These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties and by us.
2





Part I

Item 1. Business

Overview

We were founded on January 19, 2018. Together with our subsidiaries, we are an applied agricultural technology company in Appalachia developing and operating some of the world’s largest high-tech indoor farms, which are designed to grow non-GMO produce, free of or “our company” arewith minimal chemical pesticide residues, use primarily rainwater, and produce significantly higher yields than those yields achieved by traditional agriculture on the same amount of land. We combine conventional agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence and robotics, to improve access to nutritious food, farming more sustainably, building a domestic food supply, and increasing investment in Appalachia.

On January 29, 2021, AppHarvest Operations, Inc. (f/k/a AppHarvest, Inc., “Legacy AppHarvest”), a Delaware public benefit corporation, Novus Capital Corporation, a Delaware corporation. References to “management” or our “management team” are to our officerscorporation (“Novus”), ORGA, Inc., a Delaware corporation and directors. References to our “initial stockholders” are to the holderswholly-owned subsidiary of our founder shares prior to our initial public offeringNovus (“IPO”).

Item 1. Business.

Introduction

We are a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this annual report as our initial business combination. We have reviewed a number of opportunities to enter into a business combination. We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenue to date. Based on our business activities, the Company is a “shell company” as defined under the Exchange Act because we have no operations and nominal assets consisting almost entirely of cash.


Our executive offices are located at 8556 Oakmont Lane, Indianapolis, IN 46260 and our telephone number is (317) 590-6959. Our corporate website address is novuscapitalcorporation.com. Our website and the information contained on, or that can be accessed through, the website is not deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and is not considered part of, this annual report. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.

Company History

Novus Capital Corporation (the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on March 5, 2020. The Company is a blank check company formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities (the “business combination”).

The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.

In March 2020, we issued an aggregate of 2,875,000 shares of our common stock, (the “founder shares”) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.01 per share, to our initial stockholders. In connection with the IPO, our initial stockholders forfeited 375,000 shares because the underwriters’ over-allotment option was not exercised. In March 2020, we also issued to designees of EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. (“EarlyBirdCapital”Merger Sub”), the representative of the underwriters of the IPO, an aggregate of 150,000 shares of common stock (the “representative shares”) at a price of $0.0001 per share.

The registration statement for the Company’s IPO was declared effective on May 14, 2020. On May 19, 2020, the Company consummated the IPO of 10,000,000 units (the “units” and, with respect to the shares of common stock included in the units sold, the “public shares”) at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $100,000,000.

Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO,transactions contemplated by a Business Combination Agreement, dated September 2020 (the “Business Combination Agreement”), following the Company consummated the sale of 3,250,000 warrants (the “private warrants”)approval at a pricespecial meeting of $1.00 per private warrant in a private placementthe stockholders of Novus held on January 29, 2021. Pursuant to the Company’s founding stockholders (the “initial stockholders”) and EarlyBirdCapital (together with the initial stockholders, the “founders”), generating gross proceeds of $3,250,000.

Following the closingterms of the IPO on May 19, 2020, an amountBusiness Combination Agreement, a Business Combination of $100,000,000 ($10.00 per unit) fromLegacy AppHarvest and Novus was effected through the net proceedsmerger of the sale of the units in the IPOLegacy AppHarvest with and the sale of the private warrants was placed in a trust account (the “trust account”) located in the United States, and invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940,into Merger Sub, with Legacy AppHarvest surviving as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with a maturity of 180 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund selected by the Company meeting the conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a business combination or (ii) the distribution of the trust account.

Transaction costs amounted to $2,456,726 consisting of $2,000,000 of underwriting fees and $456,726 of other offering costs.

Our activities since May 19, 2020, have consisted of the search and evaluation of potential targets in contemplation of a business combination. All activity for the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) through May 18, 2020 relates to the Company’s formation and the IPO, which is described below. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of a business combination, at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the IPO.

Proposed Business Combination

On September 28, 2020, Novus, Orga, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Novus (“Merger Sub”(the “Business Combination”). On the closing date, Legacy AppHarvest changed its name to AppHarvest Operations, Inc. and Novus changed its name from Novus Capital Corporation to AppHarvest, Inc. (“AppHarvest”) entered into a business combination agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”), pursuant to which Novus and AppHarvest will consummate the business combination. The Business Combination Agreement contains customary representations and warranties, covenants, closing conditions, termination fee provisions and other terms relating


We are also committed to the merger (the “Merger”)communities where we operate by providing compelling, long-term career opportunities to the local workforce as well as partnering with educational institutions, such as the University of Kentucky and the other transactions contemplated thereby.


The Mergerlocal high schools and technical schools, to create programs that benefit students, researchers, and our own operations. At AppHarvest, our goal is to lay the foundation for Appalachia to become effectivethe AgTech capital of North America.


Our commitment to Appalachia is driven by the filingpersonal connection of a certificate of merger with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the DGCLAppHarvest’s leadership, including Jonathan Webb, Founder and mutually agreed by the parties, and will be effective immediately upon such filing or upon such later time as may be agreed by the parties and specified in such certificate of merger (such time, “Effective Time”). The parties will hold the closing of the Merger (the “Closing”) immediately prior to such filing of a certificate of merger, on the “Closing Date.”

The Effective Time shall occur as promptly as practicable but in no event later than three business day after the satisfaction or, if permissible, waiver of the conditionsChief Executive Officer, to the completionarea. As a proud Kentucky native, Mr. Webb has developed deep relationships within the Appalachian community that include civic leaders, strategic vendors and suppliers, and local and state elected officials. Our deep connection to the local community has been instrumental in facilitating our growth and development.


AppHarvest also has a refined geographic strategy in place designed to impart immediate as well as long-term benefits. Central Appalachia presents multiple strategic advantages for AppHarvest, including access to an abundant and hard-working labor force, beneficial climate patterns that allow all, or substantially all, of the business combination set forth in the Business Combination Agreement (other than those conditions that by their nature areour water requirements to be satisfied at Closing, providedsupplied naturally by rainfall, and geographic proximity to approximately 70% of all U.S. households within a one-day drive.

AppHarvest is a mission-driven organization with an ethos rooted in sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) principles. Our leadership team and employees share a deeply-held belief that, the occurrence of the Closing shall remain subjectas an organization, we are responsible to the satisfaction or, if permissible, waiver at the Closing).

Immediately priormultiple stakeholders, including our workers, our community, our customers, our environment, and our stockholders. AppHarvest is a public benefit corporation, which underscores our commitment to the Effective Time, AppHarvest shall cause each share of AppHarvest preferred stock that is issuedour mission and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time to be automatically converted into a number of shares of AppHarvest common stock at the then effective conversion rate as calculated pursuant to AppHarvest’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation. All of the shares of AppHarvest preferred stock converted into shares of AppHarvest common stock shall no longer be outstanding and shall cease to exist, and each holder of AppHarvest preferred stock shall thereafter ceasestakeholders. In addition, we elected to have any rights with respect to such securities.

Immediately prior toour social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency assessed against the Effective Time, Novus shall assume the AppHarvest interim period convertible notes withproprietary criteria established by an aggregate principal balance of $30.0 million (the “AppHarvest Interim Period Convertible Notes”) and cause the outstanding principal and unpaid accrued interest due on such AppHarvest Interim Period Convertible Notes outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time to be automatically converted into a number of shares of our common stock at a purchase price of $9.50 per share, and such converted AppHarvest Interim Period Convertible Notes will no longer be outstanding and will cease to exist. All of the AppHarvest Interim Period Convertible Notes converted into shares of our common stock shall no longer be outstanding and shall cease to exist, any liens securing obligations under the AppHarvest Interim Period Convertible Notes shall be released and each holder of AppHarvest Interim Period Convertible Notes shall thereafter cease to have any rights with respect to such securities.

At the Effective Time, by virtue of the Merger and without any action on the part of Novus, Merger Sub, AppHarvest or the holders of any of AppHarvest’s securities:

Each share of AppHarvest common stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time (including shares of AppHarvest common stock resulting from the conversion of AppHarvest preferred stock and shares of AppHarvest common stock subject to forfeiture restrictions or other restrictions issued pursuant to the AppHarvest, Inc. 2018 Equity Incentive Plan (“2018 Plan”) or otherwise (each an “AppHarvest Restricted Share”) will be cancelled and automatically converted into the right to receive the number of shares of our common stock equal to the exchange ratio provided for in the Business Combination Agreement (the “Exchange Ratio”); provided, however, that each share of our common stock issued in exchange for AppHarvest Restricted Shares shall be subject to the terms and conditions giving rise to a substantial risk of forfeiture that applied to such AppHarvest Restricted Shares immediately prior to the Effective Time to the extent consistent with the terms of such AppHarvest Restricted Shares;

All shares of AppHarvest common stock and AppHarvest preferred stock held in the treasury of AppHarvest shall be canceled without any conversion thereof and no payment or distribution shall be made with respect thereto;

Each share of Merger Sub common stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time shall be converted into and exchanged for one validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable share of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, of the surviving corporation;

Each AppHarvest option that is outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time, whether vested or unvested, shall be converted into an option to purchase a number of shares of our common stock (such option, an “Exchanged Option”) equal to the product (rounded down to the nearest whole number) of (x) the number of shares of AppHarvest common stock subject to such AppHarvest option immediately prior to the Effective Time and (y) the Exchange Ratio, at an exercise price per share (rounded up to the nearest whole cent) equal to (A) the exercise price per share of such AppHarvest option immediately prior to the Effective Time divided by (B) the Exchange Ratio;


Each award of outstanding restricted stock units to acquire shares of AppHarvest common stock immediately prior to the Closing issued pursuant to an award granted under the 2018 Plan or otherwise (each an “AppHarvest RSU”) that is outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time shall be assumed by Novus and converted into an award of restricted stock units to acquire shares of our common stock (each, a “Converted RSU Award”). Each Converted RSU Award will represent the right to acquire that number of shares of our common stock equal to the product (rounded down to the nearest whole number) of (1) the number of shares of AppHarvest common stock subject to the AppHarvest RSU award immediately before the Effective Time and (2) the Exchange Ratio; provided, that, except as specifically provided above, following the Effective Time, each Converted RSU Award shall continue to be governed by the same terms and conditions (including vesting terms) as were applicable to the corresponding former AppHarvest RSU award immediately prior to the Effective Time.

No certificates or scrip or shares representing fractional shares of our common stock shall be issued upon the exchange of AppHarvest common stock and such fractional share interests will not entitle the owner thereof to vote or to have any rights of a stockholder of Novus or a holder of shares of our common stock. In lieu of any fractional share of our common stock to which each holder of AppHarvest common stock would otherwise be entitled, the fractional share shall be rounded up or down to the nearest whole share of our common stock, with a fraction of 0.5 rounded up. No cash settlements shall be made with respect to fractional shares eliminated by rounding.

On September 28, 2020, we executed Subscription Agreements with subscribers for the sale of an aggregate of 37,500,000 shares of our common stock at a purchase price of $10.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $375.0 million, in a private placement (the “PIPE”). The closing of the PIPE will occur contemporaneously with the consummation of our proposed business combination. We will receive net proceeds of $354.3 million from the PIPE.

Fair Market Value of Target Business

The Nasdaq rules require that the target business or businesses that we acquire must collectively have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance of the funds in the trust account (less any taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of the execution of a definitive agreement for our initial business combination. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not then listed on the Nasdaq for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% fair market value test.

We currently anticipate structuring a business combination to acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination where we merge directly with the target business or a newly formed subsidiary or where we acquire less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we could acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target; however, asindependent non-profit organization. As a result of the issuancethis assessment, AppHarvest was designated as a Certified B Corporation in December 2019. As of a substantial numberDecember 31, 2021, we are one of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of trust account balance test.

The fair market value of the target will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community (such as actual and potential sales, earnings, cash flow and/or book value). The proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents used by us in connection with any proposed transaction will provide public stockholders with our analysis of the fair market value of the target business, as well as the basis for our determinations. If our board is not able to independently determine that the target business has a sufficient fair market value, we will obtain an opinion from an unaffiliated, independent investment banking firm, or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We will not be required to obtain an opinion from an investment banking firm as to the fair market value if our board of directors independently determines that the target business complies with the 80% threshold.


Conversion Rights

At any meeting called to approve an initial business combination, public stockholders may seek to convert their shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination or do not vote at all, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on depositten publicly traded Certified B Corporations in the trust account as of two business days priorUnited States.


Prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, less any taxes then due but not yet paid. Alternatively, we may provideOctober 2020, our public stockholders with the opportunity to sell their shares of our common stock to us through a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, less any taxes then due but not yet paid.

Our initial stockholders and our officers and directors will not have conversion rights with respect to any shares of common stock owned by them, directly or indirectly. Additionally, the holders of the representative shares will not have conversion rights with respect to the representative shares.

We may require public stockholders, whether they are a record holder or hold their shares in “street name,” to either (i) tender their certificates to our transfer agent or (ii) deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, in each case prior to a date set forth in the proxy materials sent in connection with the proposal to approve the business combination.

There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced delivery process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a nominal amount and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise conversion rights. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising conversion rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated. However, in the event we require stockholders seeking to exercise conversion rights prior to the consummation of the proposed business combination and the proposed business combination is not consummated this may result in an increased cost to stockholders.

Any proxy solicitation materials we furnish to stockholders in connection with a vote for any proposed business combination will indicate whether we are requiring stockholders to satisfy such certification and delivery requirements. Accordingly, a stockholder would have from the time the stockholder received our proxy statement up until the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination to deliver his shares if he wishes to seek to exercise his conversion rights. This time period varies depending on the specific facts of each transaction. However, as the delivery process can be accomplished by the stockholder, whether or not he is a record holder or his shares are held in “street name,” in a matter of hours by simply contacting the transfer agent or his broker and requesting delivery of his shares through the DWAC System, we believe this time period is sufficient for an average investor. However, we cannot assure you of this fact. Please see the risk factor titled “In connection with any stockholder meeting called to approve a proposed initial business combination, we may require stockholders who wish to convert their shares in connection with a proposed business combination to comply with specific requirements for conversion that may make it more difficult for them to exercise their conversion rights prior to the deadline for exercising their rights” for further information on the risks of failing to comply with these requirements.

Any request to convert such shares once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the vote on the proposed business combination or the expiration of the tender offer. Furthermore, if a holder of public shares delivered his certificate in connection with an election of their conversion and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, he may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically).

If the initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public stockholders who elected to exercise their conversion rights would not be entitled to convert their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any shares delivered by public holders.

Liquidation if No Business Combination

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only 18 months from the closing of the IPO, or until November 19, 2021, to complete an initial business combination. If we have not completed an initial business combination by such date, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem 100% of the outstanding public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including any interest not previously released to us but net of taxes payable, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject (in the case of (ii) and (iii) above) to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.


Our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect our public stockholders’ ability to convert or sell their shares to us in connection with a business combination as described herein or affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete a business combination by November 19, 2021 unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to convert their shares of common stock upon such approval at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest not previously released to us but net of franchise and income taxes payable, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our initial stockholders, officers, directors or any other person.

Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of 100% of our outstanding public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period may be considered a liquidation distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the Delaware General Corporation Law intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution iswere limited to the lesser“start-up” concerns of such stockholder’s pro rata shareorganizing and staffing, business planning, raising capital, and acquiring and developing properties for Controlled Environment Agriculture (“CEA”). In October 2020, we partially opened our first CEA facility in Morehead, Kentucky (the “Morehead CEA facility”), which we estimate can cultivate approximately 720,000 tomato plants with an approximate yield of 40 million pounds per year. We harvested our first crop of beefsteak tomatoes and tomatoes on the vine in January 2021 and March 2021, respectively. In May 2021, we opened production of the claim orfull 60 acres at the amount distributedMorehead CEA facility and, in August 2021, concluded the first harvest. We completed planting of our second crop at the Morehead CEA facility in September 2021, and began harvest of the crop in the fourth quarter of 2021.


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We have begun construction on four more CEA facilities. Two of the facilities under construction are located in Berea, Kentucky (the “Berea salad greens facility”) and Richmond, Kentucky (the “Richmond tomato facility”). As of the date hereof, construction on the Berea salad greens facility is approximately 68% complete; the Richmond tomato facility is approximately 65% complete. Both CEA facilities are expected to be fully operational by the end of 2022.

Groundbreakings for two more CEA facilities occurred in June 2021 in Somerset, Kentucky (the “Somerset facility”) and Morehead, Kentucky (the “Morehead salad greens facility”). The Somerset facility is intended to grow berries, and the Morehead salad greens facility, which is located adjacent to the stockholder,Morehead CEA facility, is intended to grow salad greens. The Somerset facility is approximately 55% complete and any liabilityexpected to be operational by the end of 2022.

To incorporate design and other insights we gained from construction of the stockholder would be barred afterBerea salad greens facility and to maintain flexibility in the third anniversaryallocation of capital resources, we have temporarily paused development of the dissolution. It isMorehead salad greens facility, with construction now expected to resume in 2022 and be operational in 2023.

We expect to have four CEA facilities operational by the end of 2022, with approximately 165 acres under production. We expect to develop additional CEA facilities only after obtaining the necessary capital, assuming, among other things, that we are able to obtain necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms.

To optimize our intentionproduction capabilities, innovate on sustainability measures, and deliver on our goal of establishing AppHarvest as a leader within CEA, we are committed to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following our 18th month,developing and therefore, we do not intendsourcing the most advanced technology available, especially in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, and automation. As part of these efforts, AppHarvest has empowered its subsidiary, AppHarvest Technology, Inc. (“AppHarvest Technology” or “ATI”), to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claimsdesign and sell new technology products to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.

Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of 100% of our public shares in the eventbroader agricultural market. While we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period is not considered a liquidation distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, then pursuant to Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidation distribution.

Because we will not be complying with Section 280 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, Section 281(b) of the Delaware General Corporation Law requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent ten years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses.

We are required to seek to have all third parties and any prospective target businesses enter into agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in or to any monies held in the trust account. As a result, the claims that could be made against us will be limited, thereby lessening the likelihood that any claim would result in any liability extending to the trust. We therefore believe that any necessary provision for creditors will be reduced and should not have a significant impact on our ability to distribute the funds in the trust account to our public stockholders. Nevertheless, Marcum LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of the offering, will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that other vendors, service providers and prospective target businesses will execute such agreements. Nor is there any guarantee that, even if they execute such agreements with us, they will not seek recourse against the trust account. Vincent Donargo, our Chief Financial Officer, has agreed that he will be liable to ensure that the proceeds in the trust account are not reduced below $10.00 per share by the claims of target businesses or claims of vendors or other entities that are owed money by us for services rendered or contracted for or products sold to us, but we cannot assure you that he will be able to satisfy his indemnification obligations if he is required to do so. We have not asked Mr. Donargo to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether Mr. Donargo has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations. Therefore, we cannot assure you that Mr. Donargo will be able to satisfy his indemnification obligations if he is required to do so. Additionally, the agreement Mr. Donargo entered into specifically provides for two exceptions to the indemnity it has given: it will have no liability (1) as to any claimed amounts owed to a target business or vendor or other entity who has executed an agreement with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in or to any monies held in the trust account, or (2) as to any claims for indemnification by the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. As a result, if we liquidate, the per-share distribution from the trust account could be less than $10.00 due to claims or potential claims of creditors.


We anticipate notifying the trustee of the trust account to begin liquidating such assets promptly after our 18th month and anticipate it will take no more than ten business days to effectuate such distribution. The holders of the founder shares have waived their rights to participate in any liquidation distribution from the trust account with respect to such shares. There will be no distribution from the trust account with respect to our warrants, including the private warrants, which will expire worthless. We will pay the costs of any subsequent liquidation from our remaining assets outside of the trust account. If such funds are insufficient, Mr. Laikin has contractually agreed to advance us the funds necessary to complete such liquidation (currently anticipated to be no more than approximately $15,000) and has contractually agreed not to seek repayment for such expenses.

If we are unable to complete an initial business combination and expend all of the net proceeds of the IPO, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption price would be approximately $10.00 as of December 31, 2020. As discussed above, the proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to claims of our creditors that are in preference to the claims of public stockholders.

Our public stockholders shall be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only in the event of our failure to complete a business combination within the required time period, if the stockholders seek to have us convert or purchase their respective shares upon a business combination which is actually completed by us or upon certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prior to consummating an initial business combination. In no other circumstances shall a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account.

If we are forced to file a bankruptcy case or an involuntary bankruptcy case is filed against us which is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to returnsecure the financing needed for investments required for ATI to reach its full commercial potential, our ability to develop our AppHarvest Technology. depends on obtaining the necessary capital, assuming, among other things, that we are able to obtain necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms.


AppHarvest Technology also identifies and partners with other industry-leading agricultural technology companies to deliver a competitive advantage for AppHarvest’s operations. By building new products and enabling and enhancing partnerships between AppHarvest and leading agricultural tech companies, we leverage each other’s expertise and unlock new efficiencies and capabilities. Presently, these efforts are focused on two primary initiatives: A harvesting robot and a cloud-based enterprise software system to enhance visibility into labor management and quality control within CEA facilities.

Agriculture’s Current Challenges and Our Opportunity
Today’s agriculture challenges are wide-reaching and accelerating. The World Bank forecasts that global food production will need to increase by approximately 50% or more by 2050 to feed the growing global population. Inclusive of vine crops, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) predicts that the total annual value of domestic fruit, vegetable, and nut production will exceed $66 billion by 2029, a $14 billion annual increase over the 2020 annual value. In 2020, vegetable production accounted for approximately 41% of total farm value (or approximately $21.5 billion), with fresh use vegetables comprising approximately 32% of the market (or approximately $6.9 billion). Tomatoes are the second most popular fresh market produce in the United States. Per capita consumption of fresh tomatoes has grown to approximately 21 pounds per year, approximately 75% higher than it was nearly four decades ago. The USDA attributes this growth primarily to changing consumer preferences and a shift towards a healthier diet and overall lifestyle.

Domestically, the increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables has necessitated significant imports of produce into the United States. In 2020, the cumulative value of these imports grew by 13%. The majority of America’s supply of fresh tomatoes and other vine crops, including cucumbers, bell peppers, and eggplants, are imported. In 2019, 60% of fresh tomatoes for sale in the United States were imported, up from 41% in 2009. Imports of eggplant accounted for 56% of supply in 2019, up from 43% in 2009.

Meanwhile, 66% of bell peppers and 81% of cucumbers were imported in 2019, up from 46% and 56%, respectively, in 2009. Over approximately the last three decades, the United States’ reliance on imports has more than doubled. The country’s single largest import partner is Mexico, which comprises 75% of U.S. fresh vegetable imports.

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Percentage of Crops Imported:

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A continued reliance on imports puts the U.S. food supply at risk from both natural and politically destabilizing events. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted this risk. During the pandemic, the supply chain has been disrupted and food imports have been, at times, delayed or even cancelled.

A reduced or delayed supply of produce can have a pronounced impact on grocers, which generally operate on thin financial margins and just-in-time inventory practices. A consistent and reliable supply chain is vital to the grocery retail industry, which attempts to match closely the perishable supply of produce to near-term customer demand. We believe that CEA, which provides more reliable, sustainable, and higher quality produce, produced in accordance with much higher food safety standards, is an optimal solution for the grocery industry’s reliance on imports, and that there will be a strong preference among distributors and grocers to shift from imports to CEA as more supply becomes available from CEA.

Demand for sustainable farming and new CEA infrastructure has been amplified by the effects of climate change and other environmental factors. Historically, California and Mexico have produced a majority of the fresh produce sold to consumers in the United States. Unsustainable farming practices, structural changes in water resources, and an over-reliance on chemicals, which can be harmful to people in a variety of ways, have degraded large swaths of arable land. Globally, approximately one-third of arable land is estimated to be at least partially degraded. This could increase to more than 90% of arable land unless there is a significant shift in farming practices and infrastructure.

In addition, shifting weather patterns believed to be the result of climate change are accelerating the threat to existing agricultural regions. Reduced rainfall and increasingly hot conditions in certain growing regions are increasing the demand for, and consumption of, irrigation water. Two-thirds of Mexico is arid or semi-arid, with annual rainfalls of less than 500 millimeters. California’s Public Policy Institute estimates that 500,000 to 780,000 acres would need to lie fallow for the state’s natural aquifers to re-balance.

AppHarvest’s facilities are well positioned take advantage of Kentucky’s relatively high precipitation levels by capturing and recycling rainfall in large on-site retention ponds at our Morehead CEA facility and other planned CEAs, to meet our ongoing irrigation needs.

We believe that CEA is the global solution to address the rising demand for fresh fruits and vegetables, to offset the declining availability of high-quality farmland, and to mitigate the effect of climate change on agriculture. By using leading-edge technology, we expect, at full production capacity, to be able to grow up to 30 times more produce on a single indoor acre compared to a single, traditionally farmed outdoor acre.

This belief is based on third-party research and publications stating that produce grown in CEA facilities can yield anywhere from 20 to 50 times as much as traditional farming on the same amount of land. CEA allows for systematic measurements and tailoring of important variables on a per-crop level, such as nutrient levels, temperature, humidity, and irrigation. CEA generally benefits from potential year-round optimal farming conditions, whereas open field farming and traditional greenhouses have more limited growing seasons.

We also believe that AppHarvest is positioned to become a global leader in the CEA industry. We are one of only a few publicly traded companies focused on CEA-enabled food production in the United States. Our CEA facilities in Appalachia are designed to maximize the sustainability and efficiency of our operations. For example, our ability to farm using captured rainwater not only decreases our impact on the environment, but eliminates the high cost of water. Captured rainwater also allows us to avoid harmful agricultural runoff, a major source of U.S. waterways pollution. Our geographic proximity to the markets we serve reduces the fuel needed to transport our fruits and vegetables to customers, thereby reducing the
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environmental impact of distributing our products. Relative to growers in California and Mexico, we estimate we can distribute our products using up to 80% less fuel and with an extended shelf life and less spoilage due to a shorter time spent in transit.

Our Solution

The key components to our public stockholders at least $10.00 per share.

Ifstrategy include:


Sustainable CEA facilities: By insulating our food production system from seasonal and weather constraints, our CEA facilities are expected to produce up to 30 times more fruits and vegetables compared to traditional open-field agriculture, while also using up to 90% less water.

Strategic location near major population centers: Given our location within one day’s drive of nearly 70% of the U.S. population, we are forcedpositioned to fileuse significantly less fuel to transport our products, compared to fruits and vegetables shipped from the southwestern United States, especially California, and Mexico.

AgTech ecosystem: AppHarvest led the signing of a bankruptcy case ornon-binding collaboration agreement by a 17-organization coalition of universities, governments, and leading AgTech companies in the U.S. and abroad, which increased to a 26-organization coalition in February 2022. The collaboration agreement is intended to identify opportunities to leverage each other’s expertise and find opportunities to work together to support large-scale development in Central Appalachia. AppHarvest believes this coalition will partially reduce our research & development costs and enable us to source and identify new advancements, technologies, and opportunities more quickly than we necessarily would on our own.

Technology: Sourcing, developing, and implementing applied technology will be a key differentiator for AppHarvest over the long term. We are working with leading technology companies in the agriculture industry, such as Dalsem and Havecon for greenhouse construction and development; Signify and GE for energy efficient LED lighting; Kopperts for advanced, integrated pest management; Priva B.V. for greenhouse software; TAKS Handling Systems and AWETA for pack line operations and data capture; and Arugga for automated robotic pollination. Additionally, AppHarvest Technology. is continuing its work on Virgo, an involuntary bankruptcy caseautomated harvesting robot, and FarmOps, a new software product for greenhouse management. We will continue to invest and innovate in technology as we strive to be at the forefront of sustainable food production.

Strong and available local labor force: AppHarvest is filed against uscommitted to paying a living wage which, on average, is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.”approximately 40% higher than the average wage for comparable work in Kentucky. As a result, we believe we can recruit and retain a bankruptcy court could seekcompetitive workforce.

Morehead CEA Facility

The Morehead CEA facility, which partially opened in October 2020, and is now fully operational, is among the world’s largest greenhouses at 60 acres (approximately 2.8 million square feet). Its suite of cutting-edge technology includes:

Hybrid lighting system: Our lighting system features a combination of natural sunlight, Signify GreenPower LEDs, and high-pressure sodium lighting.

Water independence: Our recycled rainwater irrigation system used a 10-acre, on-site retention pond, thus eliminating the need for city or well water. This system enables us to recover all amounts receiveduse up to 90% less water compared to open field agriculture.

Advanced closed-loop water filtration system: Our closed-loop water filtration system incorporates nano-bubble technology to combat harmful algae blooms and cyanotoxins, as well as sand filters and high-density ultraviolet lighting. (Ultraviolet lighting is designed to kill bacteria).

Climate and greenhouse operations software: Designed by Priva B.V., our stockholders. Furthermore, because we intendclimate and greenhouse operations software allows our growers to distributemonitor carefully microclimates inside our CEA facility and to calculate the proceeds heldprecise levels of light, water, and carbon dioxide each plant needs to thrive. This operations software also allows for exact dosing of nutrients as well as temperature and humidity control on a plant-by-plant level.

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Innovative pest control strategy, or integrated pest management: “IPM” is an environmentally sensitive approach to pest management, which relies in part on the trust accountuse of beneficial insects to our public stockholders promptly after 18 months from the closingcombat damaging pests. We use parasitic wasps to control one of the IPO, or November 19,most detrimental greenhouse pests: the whitefly. Predatory mites work similarly against harmful spider mites and fungus gnats.

Development Pipeline

Shortly after the partial opening of the Morehead CEA facility in October 2020, AppHarvest purchased two additional properties, the Richmond tomato facility and the Berea salad greens facility, both of which we anticipate will be operational by the end of 2022. In the second quarter of 2021, this mayAppHarvest began construction of the Somerset and Morehead salad greens facility. The Somerset facility is expected to be viewed or interpreted as giving preferenceoperational by the end of 2022. As we strive to our public stockholders over any potential creditorsmaintain flexibility with respect to the allocation of our capital resources, we have paused the Morehead salad greens facility until additional financing sources are secured. We plan to continue developing and opening additional facilities throughout Central Appalachia only after obtaining the necessary capital, assuming, among other things, that we are able to obtain necessary capital when needed and on acceptable terms.

We have built a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform that we expect will power our direct-to-consumer and value-added products businesses. We successfully launched and sold out our first value-added product, salsa, in 2021, and we expect to leverage this platform as we continue to refine and grow our value-added products strategy in the future, depending on the availability of financing on acceptable terms. We have paused the sale and development of our salsa and other products in 2022. The three farms expected to be operational in 2022 should provide us a significantly larger volume of produce from which to derive value-added and direct-to-consumer products when expected sales and development resume. Accordingly, we plan to spend time and resources developing capacity for larger-scale production that we believe will enable us to secure financing and permit us to relaunch our value-added products at a larger scale in the future.

Our Strengths

Industry Leading Position with an Early Mover Advantage

Our Morehead CEA facility, combined with our in-development greenhouses in Richmond, Berea, Morehead, and Somerset, position us among the largest CEA growers in the United States. Our current production acreage is growing beefsteak tomatoes, tomatoes on the vine, and Campari tomatoes. We plan to expand into salad greens and berries. AppHarvest is also employing a “go-to-market” strategy through our partnership with Mastronardi Produce Limited (“Mastronardi”), which should enable us to build customer awareness and brand loyalty for future fruits, vegetables, and other value-added products.

Skilled Integrator of Proven Technologies

Our development and technology teams are highly skilled in applied agricultural technology. In many instances, the right technology to maximize crop yields sustainably already exists in the marketplace. The Netherlands, for example, has long relied on high-tech CEA facilities for domestic fruit and vegetable production and is the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter despite a land mass roughly one-third the size of Kentucky. To this end, we are working directly with companies that have been successful in the Netherlands, as well as construction firms with experience building these types of structures.

Strategic Partnerships with Important Industry Participants

To aid us in accomplishing our objectives, we have pursued partnerships with select third parties to allow us to focus our capital and resources in areas that maximize value for our Company and shareholders.

Mastronardi

Mastronardi is our exclusive marketing and distribution partner for all fresh fruits and vegetables grown in Kentucky and West Virginia, including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, berries, and/or all salad greens that meet certain quality standards. Mastronardi is the leading marketer and distributor in North America of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, berries, and salad greens (collectively, the “Products”). Mastronardi has an extensive and long-established retail network and is nationally recognized under the primary SUNSET® brand and other brands, including Campari®, Angel Sweet®, Flavor Bombs®, Sugar Bombs® tomatoes and WOW™ berries. Through our partnership, we receive immediate access to a large and coveted customer base. Our produce is currently available for sale in the produce aisles of some grocers.

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Pursuant to our Agreement with Mastronardi, Mastronardi is the sole and exclusive marketer and distributor of all Products of our Morehead CEA facility. Under the terms of this “Mastronardi Morehead Agreement”, AppHarvest is responsible for growing, producing, packing and delivering all Products to Mastronardi, and Mastronardi is responsible for marketing, branding, and distributing our Products to its customers.

Mastronardi has agreed to sell our Products at market prices consistent with the best and highest prices available throughout the applicable growing season for similar USDA Grade No. 1 products. Mastronardi will set the market price for the Products and will pay over to AppHarvest the gross sale price of the Products it sells, less a marketing fee and its costs incurred in the sale and distribution of the Products. If Mastronardi rejects, returns, or distributionsotherwise refuses Products for failure to meet certain quality standards, AppHarvest has the right, at its cost and expense, to sell or otherwise dispose of the Products, subject to certain conditions. AppHarvest has developed options for generating revenue from any such Products, including by selling them to secondary distribution outlets and using them to create value-added products.

If AppHarvest expands the growing acreage or operations of any of its existing facilities in Kentucky or West Virginia, Mastronardi has a right of first refusal to be the exclusive distributor of any produce arising as a result of such expansion for the greater of ten years from the date of first commercial production of the additional products or the remainder of the term of the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement. In the event AppHarvest or its affiliates operate a new facility in Kentucky or West Virginia, Mastronardi has the right to deem such “New Grower Facility” to be under an agreement with Mastronardi on the same material terms and conditions of the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement for a period of ten years. In December 2020, Mastronardi elected to deem AppHarvest’s new facilities in Richmond and Berea as New Grower Facilities.

The initial term of the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement is ten years, beginning on the date of the commercial harvest of AppHarvest’s first crop. After the initial term, the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement renews automatically for additional one-year terms unless terminated by either party by written notice not later than 240 calendar days prior to the end of the applicable term. Either AppHarvest or Mastronardi can terminate the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement if the other party is subject to certain bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings or if the other party is in breach of the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement and the breach remains uncured for a specified period. AppHarvest’s obligation to deliver timely Products to Mastronardi and to maintain exclusivity is not subject to cure.

Mastronardi has the exclusive right to sell and market all fresh fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, berries and/or salad greens, grown by AppHarvest in Kentucky and West Virginia for an initial term of 10 years from each facility’s first commercial harvest. If Mastronardi declines to exercise its right of first refusal, AppHarvest has the right to contract with unaffiliated third parties that are industry recognized bona fide marketers for distribution of such produce. Sale transactions would be at market price, less the marketing fee and costs incurred in the sale and distribution of Products. Outside of Kentucky and West Virginia, AppHarvest has agreed not to compete with Mastronardi, including growing fresh produce in a new facility outside of Kentucky and West Virginia in an area in which it would be competing with Mastronardi, for a period of ten years that commences on the date of the first commercial harvest from the Morehead CEA Facility and also runs for ten years, measured from the latest date of a first commercial harvest from a facility deemed to be a New Grower Facility by Mastronardi under the terms of the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement. AppHarvest has also agreed not to solicit any employee of Mastronardi or its affiliates without Mastronardi’s written consent during the term of each applicable Mastronardi purchase and marketing agreement, and for a period thereafter.

Dalsem and Havecon

Dalsem is a highly regarded manufacturer and developer of end-to-end, high-tech greenhouse projects. The company has more than 85 years of experience and is perceived as a pioneer and an innovator within the industry. We selected Dalsem as our construction partner for our first CEA facility in Morehead, Kentucky, pursuant to an engineering, procurement and construction agreement. We have also entered into a direct contractual relationship with Dalsem for the construction of our new CEA facilities in Richmond and Berea, Kentucky.

Havecon is a designer and manufacturer of greenhouse horticulture projects. AppHarvest selected Havecon to build its facility in Somerset, Kentucky, because of its industry know-how, years of experience, strong reputation, network of industry partners, and expected ability to complete the project quickly and on time.

Our relationships with Dalsem and Havecon present potential long-term advantages, including reducing the risk associated with construction, such as the availability of certain inputs and materials for the facilities, and favorable construction timelines.

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Rabo AgriFinance

In June 2021, AppHarvest secured a $75 million credit facility with Rabo AgriFinance, a leading financial services provider for agricultural producers and agribusinesses in the United States. Under the terms of the facility, we entered into a 60% loan-to-value mortgage at an anticipated fixed rate of between 4 to 5% for 10 years, with amortization of debt over 20 years for the Morehead CEA facility. Rabo AgriFinance is a subsidiary of Rabobank, a premier bank to the global agriculture industry and one of the world’s largest and strongest banks.

Also in June 2021, we entered into an interest rate swap with an affiliate of Rabo AgriFinance to make a series of payments based on a fixed rate of 1.602% and receive a series of payments based on LIBOR. As of December 31, 2021, the net fixed interest rate on the combined Rabo Loan and related interest rate swap is 4.102%. See Note 10-Debt to our consolidated financial statements for more information of the Rabo AgriFinance credit facility.

JP Morgan

In September 2021, AppHarvest entered a $25 million cash-backed credit facility with JP Morgan based on its third high-tech, 30-acre indoor farm under construction in Somerset, Kentucky, which broke ground in June 2021. This CEA facility is intended to grow berries. Proceeds from the 364-day credit facility, which is priced at LIBOR plus 225 basis points, will be applied toward capital expenditures and improvements, including construction of the company’s fourth high-tech indoor farm.

In January 2022, we amended this credit facility to: (i) increase the existing line of credit facility in the maximum amount from $25 million to $50 million; and (ii) implement SOFR as the replacement of LIBOR as a benchmark interest rate for U.S. dollar borrowings.

Experienced and Passionate Team

AppHarvest is a mission-driven company led by highly committed and passionate professionals. Our founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan Webb, is a Kentucky native with more than a decade of experience focused on sustainable infrastructure. Prior to founding AppHarvest in 2018, Mr. Webb led a public-private partnership on behalf of the Department of Defense, developing what was then the largest solar project in the southeastern United States. At AppHarvest, Mr. Webb has used his experience in renewable infrastructure to create a CEA platform in North America.

In January 2021, David Lee, an existing member of the board of directors of AppHarvest, joined the Company to serve as President. Prior to joining AppHarvest, Mr. Lee was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Impossible Foods, where he led strategy and operations as the company evolved from a startup into the scaled food company they are today. Prior to Impossible Foods, Mr. Lee held executive leadership positions at several companies, including Del Monte Foods, where he helped restructure the business concurrent with KKR’s acquisition of the company. Additionally, AppHarvest has a talented roster of senior executives, including Loren Eggleton, Chief Financial Officer; Derek Lyons, General Counsel; Julie Nelson, Chief Operating Officer; Josh Lessing, Chief Technology Officer; Jackie Roberts, Chief Sustainability Officer; and Dave Nichols, Head of Strategy.

AppHarvest has attracted a highly experienced “grow team” to operate our greenhouses. Our senior growers have, on average, more than 25 years of experience managing growing operations. We also have a construction management and development team with extensive experience in complex, large scale, multi- site, and global projects.

ESG Company

AppHarvest has an authentic and overarching commitment to sustainability, ESG, and social impact. Our Certified B Corporation certification recognizes our commitment to our stakeholders, including our employees, community, environment, customers, and stockholders. We believe we present a unique and a compelling opportunity for the growing number of investors who share our dedication to sustainability and a broader set of ESG principles.

We have also been certified by an independent non-profit organization as meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. We are proud of our achievements to date, including:

Selecting Rowan County for our Morehead CEA facility, in which approximately 25% of the community lives below the poverty line. Despite reduced wage expectations in this area, we have provided career opportunities with entry-level wages that are over 40% higher than average hourly wages for comparable jobs in the state.
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We have invested over $100 million in the local Rowan County community, which we believe will have an economic ripple effect as those expenditures percolate through our contractors, engineers, and other tradespeople required to build our large-scale facilities.

In addition to paying a living wage, as assessed by an independent third party, we provide paid time off and full family healthcare coverage.

We have partnered with local universities and high schools. We plan to educate more than 1,000 high school students through our educational programs around hydroponic farming.

We believe we also have an opportunity to impact how the regional power grid evolves. As we grow and need more power, we are committed to catalyzing new renewable energy sources in our market. We believe that when corporations insist upon completely renewable energy, market forces will drive suppliers to provide electrical energy with a reduced carbon footprint. As a member of the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (“REBA”), a community of energy buyers seeking to accelerate a zero-carbon energy future, we also benefit from REBA resources as we strive to operate on renewable energy.

We aim not only to transform the Appalachia region in terms of social and economic impact, but also to build a platform to transform agriculture and bring new solutions for growing threats to the agriculture sector, including water shortages, land shortages, soil depletion, surface water pollution, pesticide use, food waste, and systemic risks from climate change. Our growing process reduces environmental impacts and manages the environmental risks increasingly threatening our food systems. Specifically, our CEA facility is designed to manage these risks and reduces environmental impacts by:

Using up to 90% less water than conventional agriculture in a closed system that prevents pollution from excess fertilizers and chemical pesticides running into local streams or waterways.

Making efficient use of land without depleting soil and its nutrients.

Using integrated pest management, skilled workers, and AI tools designed to keep the greenhouse free of or with minimal of pests and disease in accordance with our Chemical Pesticide Policy.

Using a horizontal greenhouse structure to maximize passive solar energy.

Implementing new lighting systems that use 20% less energy than traditional lighting systems through integration of LEDs.

Working towards exciting opportunities to link operations to renewable energy initiatives.

Growth Strategy

Through investments in Central Appalachia, our brand, our stakeholders and our infrastructure, we believe that we are well-positioned to grow our brand and attract consumers through our distribution partner Mastronardi, which provides us with full distribution on day one of production, allowing customers to experience our products and us to grow customer recognition and loyalty.

New Project Pipeline

AppHarvest expects to develop additional CEA facilities only after obtaining the necessary capital, assuming, among other things, that we are able to obtain necessary capital when needed and on acceptable terms. We believe that allocating capital to organic growth, specifically the development of new facilities, presents a compelling return on invested capital.

Our Morehead CEA facility partially opened in October 2020, and has been fully operational since March 2021. Shortly thereafter, we announced groundbreakings for two additional facilities, the Richmond tomato facility and the Berea salad greens facility, both of which we anticipate will be operational by the end of 2022. In the second quarter of 2021, we announced the beginning of construction of the Somerset facility and the Morehead salad greens facility. The Somerset facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2022. We have temporarily paused development of the 10-acre Morehead salad greens facility, with construction now expected to resume in 2022 for a 2023 delivery.

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Our site selection and construction management processes, as well as all major investment capital decisions, require sign off from our assets. Furthermore, our board may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary dutiesChief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, with additional oversight from the Board of Directors. Cost, development timelines, expansion opportunities, proximity to our creditors and/existing facilities, crop economics and overall site-level returns on invested capital are among the many factors we consider before greenlighting a project.

Strategy to Develop Branded and Sustainable Value-Added Products

AppHarvest is an applied technology company with global ambitions and a desire to become a trusted brand with broad brand awareness. We aim to leverage our ESG- and mission-driven ethos to grow and produce fruits, vegetables and value-added products that customers will actively seek out at their local grocery stores. While our focus is on fresh produce, we have also built a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform that we expect to power our direct to consumer and value added products business, the future development of which is contingent upon our ability to secure additional financing on acceptable terms.

Competition

With vine crops imports rapidly increasing, our competition includes large-scale operations in Mexico and, to a lesser extent, the southwestern United States. With studies having found that an American meal travels 1,500 miles on average to the consumer’s plate, we believe we are unique in becoming a large-scale CEA operator growing produce closer to the end consumer.

Overall Competition

The U.S. greenhouse industry has grown steadily over the past decade as producers use its advantages to grow more using fewer resources, seeking to solve issues caused by limited land, energy and resources including water and labor. The USDA attributes growth to greenhouse operators’ ability to realize greater market access both in the off-season and in northern retail produce markets, better product consistency and improved yields.

By 2017, the percentage of greenhouse-grown U.S. shipments of fresh tomatoes had grown to 5% of all shipments. Only four states (California, Minnesota, Nebraska and New York) produce more than 10 million pounds of greenhouse-grown tomatoes annually, according to the most recent USDA data. Kentucky’s production was estimated by the USDA to be between 500,000 pounds to 1 million pounds annually. Our operations in Morehead, Kentucky are vaulting Kentucky into over 10 million annual pounds category.

Competition from Imports

In 2004, growers in the United States, Canada and Mexico each supplied around 300 million pounds of greenhouse-grown tomatoes to the United States. According to the USDA in 2019, since then, Mexico’s market share averaged 35 percent annual growth. Greenhouse-grown tomato imports from Mexico accounted for 84% of total greenhouse-grown tomato imports in the United States in 2017, while imports of greenhouse- grown tomatoes from Canada held steady at around 300 million pounds annually.

A challenge for high-tech producers in the United States is the possibility that lower-cost Mexican producers will be able to increasingly step up and meet emerging U.S. retail market preferences for higher quality, improved product safety, year-round availability, and product innovation. Mexican producers would most likely aim to achieve this not by investing equivalent capital, but by leveraging climatic and labor advantages.
Meanwhile, Canadian greenhouse operators, which are located primarily in Ontario in the east and British Columbia in the west and often supported by extensive government subsidies and financing, are increasingly initiating or may have actedexpanding operations in bad faith,the United States. The major factors driving this expansion are brand value of U.S. production and thereby exposing itselflower transportation and our companyenergy costs at U.S. facilities.

Beyond greenhouse-grown tomatoes imports are making up an increasing percentage of all fresh tomatoes. In 2000, imports accounted for only 30% of fresh tomatoes in the United States and increased to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us60% in 2019. Imports accounted for these reasons.

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains certain requirements and restrictions that apply to us until the consummation of our initial business combination. These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of a majority of fresh tomato supply starting in 2010 after a series of weather-related issues in Florida necessitated imports to replace expected open-field tomato production.

We believe that market leadership will accrue to the most efficient producers who are able to reliably meet the needs of large U.S. retailers and can demonstrate advantages in marketing strategy, geography, ESG, food safety, technology, and production learning curves sufficient to warrant the substantial long-term working capital required to fuel the expected sustained growth of this market segment.
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Traditional Greenhouse Operators

Large-scale greenhouse operators currently dominate the market in the indoor agriculture space, as they have large-scale distribution networks and own and operate hundreds to thousands of acres of greenhouse. Most of the companies have major portions of their operations in Mexico and Canada, but we believe all or nearly all of them are either looking to develop, are developing or have already developed U.S.- based high-tech greenhouses. These companies have broad product lines and are moving into the prepared food space to leverage their scale and distribution networks.

High-Tech Agricultural Startups

While most CEA production comes from traditional greenhouse companies, a number of high-tech vertical farms also exist in the market. These startups are often focused on development of farms either in or near major cities. These companies generally have smaller product offerings and tend to focus on salad greens products due to limitations of their technologies and economics. By contrast, we believe our stockholders. Iffacilities will have the ability to grow a variety of crops including salad greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, peppers, eggplants, and more. We are also differentiated in prioritizing use of two of the earth’s natural inputs: sunlight and water. In fact, our Morehead CEA facility is one of the only facilities of its type and size in North America to rely primarily on rainwater for its production. Although we seekdo supplement the light our plants receive with LED lighting and high-pressure sodium lighting, our plants primarily grow using natural sunlight, requiring less energy per plant than indoor warehouse farms. There are several companies that sell farm management software for the CEA market. These software offerings have traditionally had limitations since they do not track many aspects of a farm’s operations and they are difficult to amendintegrate with other enterprise information systems. Additionally, only a few of these software companies are either internally developing or collaborating with partners to offer robots that automate tasks ranging from crop forecasting to robotic harvesting. In these cases, the systems under development are limited in their design in that they are highly specialized for completing a single task on the farm. In contrast, our subsidiary, AppHarvest Technology, is developing software systems that can be applied to monitoring processes across a farm, are inter operable with complimentary information technologies, and will work in collaboration with a robotic farming platform that has been architected so that its core technology can be applied to accomplishing multiple tasks on the farm. With the acquisition of Root AI, Inc. (“Root AI”) in April 2021 (the “Root AI Acquisition”), we are an applied technology company, through our ATI subsidiary, which develops CEA technology solutions for internal use and potential sale to customers in the global CEA industry.

Government Regulation

We are subject to laws and regulations administered by various federal, state and local government agencies in the United States, such as FDA, the FTC, the EPA, the OSHA, and the USDA. These laws and regulations apply to the processing, packaging, distribution, sale, marketing, labeling, quality, safety, and transportation of our products, as well as our occupational safety and health practices.

Under various federal statutes and implementing regulations, these agencies, among other things, prescribe the requirements and establish the standards for quality and safety and regulate our products and the manufacturing, labeling, marketing, promotion, and advertising thereof.

Among other things, the facilities in which our products are grown, packed or processed may be required to register with the FDA (depending on specific growing, packing, and processing operations), comply with regulatory schemes including Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption, Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food and FDA and USDA labeling and marketing requirements, as amended by the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 (“FSMA”), the Organic Food Production Act, among other laws and regulations implemented by the FDA, the USDA, and other regulators. FSMA regulations are still being developed and implemented, including product traceability requirements recently proposed, which would be directly applicable to our products. The FDA and the USDA have the authority to inspect these facilities depending on the type of product and operations involved. The FDA and the USDA also require that certain nutrition and product information appear on its product labels and more generally, that its labels and labeling be truthful and non-misleading. Similarly, the FTC requires that our marketing and advertising be truthful, non-misleading, not deceptive to consumers, and not otherwise an unfair means of competition. We are also restricted by FDA and USDA from making certain types of claims about our products, including nutrient content claims, health claims, organic claims, and claims regarding the effects of our products on any provisionsstructure or function of the body, whether express or implied, unless we satisfy certain regulatory requirements.

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We are also subject to parallel state and local food safety regulation, including registration and licensing requirements for our facilities, enforcement of standards for our products and facilities by state and local health agencies, and regulation of our trade practices in connection with selling our products.

We are also subject to labor and employment laws, laws governing advertising, privacy laws, safety regulations and other laws, including consumer protection regulations that regulate retailers or govern the promotion and sale of merchandise. Our operations, and those of our distributors and suppliers, are subject to various laws and regulations relating to environmental protection and worker health and safety matters.

Certified B Corporation

While not required by Delaware law or the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, we have elected to have our social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency assessed against the proprietary criteria established by an independent non-profit organization. As a result of this assessment, in December 2019, we were designated as a Certified B Corporation.

In order to be designated as a Certified B Corporation, companies are required to take a comprehensive and objective assessment of their positive impact on society and the environment. The assessment evaluates how a company’s operations and business model impact its workers, customers, suppliers, community and the environment using a 200-point scale. While the assessment varies depending on a company’s size (number of employees), sector and location, representative indicators in the assessment include payment above a living wage, employee benefits, stakeholder engagement, supporting underserved suppliers and environmental benefits from a company’s products or services. After completing the assessment, the independent organization that would affectcertified us as a Certified B Corporation will verify our public stockholders’ abilityscore to convert or sell their shares to us in connection with a business combination as described herein or affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public sharesdetermine if we do not completemeet the 80- point minimum bar for certification. The review process includes a business combinationphone review, a random selection of indicators for verifying documentation and a random selection of company locations for onsite reviews, including employee interviews and facility tours. Once certified, every Certified B Corporation must make its assessment score transparent on the independent organization’s website.

Acceptance as a Certified B Corporation and continued certification is at the sole discretion of the independent organization that certified us as a Certified B Corporation. To maintain our certification, we are required to update our assessment and verify our updated score with the independent organization every three years. We will need to update our current certification no later than December 30, 2022. Additionally, we were required to commit to re-certifying within 18 months from90 days following the closing of the IPO, or November 19, 2021, we will provide dissenting public stockholders withBusiness Combination and to complete this recertification within one year following the opportunity to convert their public sharesclosing of the Business Combination and are currently in the process of recertification.

Public Benefit Corporation

In connection with any such vote. This conversion right shall applyour Certified B Corporation status and as a demonstration of our long-term commitment to our mission, we have been a public benefit corporation under Delaware law since inception.

Under Delaware law, a public benefit corporation is required to identify in its certificate of incorporation the public benefit or benefits it will promote and its directors have a duty to manage the affairs of the corporation in a manner that balances the pecuniary interests of the corporation’s stockholders, the best interests of those materially affected by the corporation’s conduct, and the specific public benefit or public benefits identified in the eventpublic benefit corporation’s certificate of incorporation. To date, there is limited case law involving public benefit corporations and the application of this and other distinct public benefit corporation requirements, which may create some uncertainty until additional case law develops.

Security holders should note, however, that Sections 361 and 365 of the approvalDelaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) indicate that Delaware’s longstanding “business judgment rule” should apply to the balancing determinations required of any such amendment, whether proposed by any officer,public benefit corporation directors so long as directors remain informed and free of conflicts of interests. Similarly, a director’s ownership of or other interest in stock of the public benefit corporation will not, for purposes of Subsection XV, create conflict of interest on the part of the director or director nominee, or any other person. Our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed to waive any conversion rights with respect to any founder sharesthe director’s decision implicating the balancing requirement in the public benefit corporation, except to the extent that such ownership or interest would create a conflict of interest if the corporation were not a public benefit corporation. We expect that, in large part, traditional Delaware corporation law principles and anythe application of those principles in case law — including those related to self-dealing, conflicts of interest, and the application of the business judgment rule — will continue to apply with respect to public shares they may holdbenefit corporations.

As provided in connection with any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Specifically, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, provides, among other things, that:

the public benefits that we shall either (1) seek stockholder approvalpromote, and pursuant to which we manage, are empowering individuals in Appalachia, driving positive environmental change in the agriculture
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industry, and improving the lives of our initialemployees and the community at large. Public benefit corporations organized in Delaware are required to assess their benefit performance internally and to disclose to stockholders at least biennially a report detailing their success in meeting their benefit objectives. We will also consider the objectives and standards by which we will measure and report our public benefit performance in our public benefit corporation reports, including potential key performance metrics, and we have not made a final decision on such matters. We expect that we will conduct our own assessment of our benefit performance against the standards and metrics we develop, rather than having such performance conducted by a third party. We have completed a materiality assessment with an independent third party, designated our ESG metrics, and expect to report our first set of data in our Sustainability Report, which we expect to release in the first half of 2022.

Trademarks and Other Intellectual Property

Our intellectual property and proprietary rights are valuable assets and we rely on a combination of federal, state, common law and international rights in the jurisdictions to safeguard our intellectual property. Our trademarks and other proprietary rights are valuable assets that reinforce the distinctiveness of our brand to our consumers. We also have made, and have acquired, numerous patent applications. We believe our patents, trademarks, copyrights and domain names, and the protection of the underlying intellectual property, are important to our success. Accordingly, we own and have registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office trademarks and patent applications that are important to our business, combinationincluding our principal trademark, AppHarvest, and have several additional trademark applications pending, as well.

Further, in addition to our U.S. intellectual property portfolio, we also seek intellectual property protection in certain other jurisdictions where available and where we deem appropriate, and have undertaken numerous foreign patent application filings. We also rely on unpatented proprietary expertise and copyright protection. We aggressively protect our intellectual property rights by relying on trademark and copyright, as well as the use of use of nondisclosure, confidentiality, and intellectual property assignment agreements.

Employees and Human Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately 500 full-time employees and approximately 130 independent contractors, all of whom are located in the United States. At December 31, 2021, our full-time workforce consisted of 37% female employees, which represented approximately 28.6% of management. Approximately 8.8% of our employees identified as a racial minority and represented 14.3% of management. None of our employees are represented by a labor union. We have never experienced a labor-related work stoppage. During the first quarter of 2022, we initiated a restructuring plan to reduce operating costs and improve profitability, which resulted in a decrease of our full-time employees by approximately 50.

Upholding diversity, equity and inclusion is not only the right moral and ethical policy, it also makes good business sense. We have made a particular commitment to second-chance/fair-chance employment. We work with community partners who help prepare those potential candidates for employment with us. To ensure a fair shot, our interviewers are never aware interviewees are from second-chance or fair-chance programs. From top to bottom, we aim to hire a team of people as diverse as our nation and then empower them as individuals.

Our human capital resources objectives include, as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and new employees. The principal purposes of our equity incentive plans are to attract, retain and motivate personnel through the granting of equity-based compensation awards, in order to increase stockholder value and the success of the company by motivating such individuals to perform to the best of their abilities and achieve our objectives.

We encourage employees to engage with our mission in many ways. One avenue is through “Mission Day” paid leave hours. These hours are intended to be used towards activities related to the Company’s mission, including but not limited to community volunteering and involvement. Examples include volunteering at a meeting called for such purpose at which stockholders may seekfood bank or an animal shelter, participating in community beautification projects, or tutoring kids. Each year, employees receive up to convert16 hours of paid leave designated as Mission Days depending upon their shares, regardlessdate of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination or don’t vote at all, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), or (2) provide our stockholders with the opportunityhire.

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Website Access to sell their shares to us by means of a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), in each caseReports

Our website is www.appharvest.com. We are subject to the limitations described herein;


we will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assetsinformational requirements of at least $5,000,001 immediately prior to or upon consummation of such business combination and, if we seek stockholder approval, a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination;

if our initial business combination is not consummated within 18 months from the IPO, or November 19, 2021, then we will redeem all of the outstanding public shares and thereafter liquidate and dissolve our company;

upon the consummation of the IPO, $100.0 million was placed into the trust account;

we may not consummate any other business combination, merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar transaction prior to our initial business combination; and

prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional stock that participates in any manner in the proceeds of the trust account, or that votes as a class with the common stock sold in the IPO on an initial business combination.

Certain Potential Conflicts of Interest Relating to Our Officers and Directors

Our officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with other companies. In order to minimize potential conflicts of interest which may arise from such other corporate affiliations, each of our officers and directors has contractually agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, until the earliest of our execution of a definitive agreement for a business combination, our liquidation or such time as he ceases to be an officer or director, to present to our company for our consideration, prior to presentation to any other entity, any suitable business opportunity which may reasonably be required to be presented to us, subject to any fiduciary or contractual obligations he might have.

Our officers and directors have agreed to present to us all target business opportunities that have a fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account, subject to any fiduciary or contractual obligations they have. As more fully discussed in “Management — Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an initial business combination opportunity that might be attractive to any entity to which he has fiduciary or contractual obligations, he may be required to present such initial business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such initial business combination opportunity to us. For more information on the relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our management team, see the section titled “Management — Conflicts of Interest.”

Indemnity

In connection with the Merger, Vincent Donargo, the Chief Financial Officer of Novus, has agreed that he will be liable to Novus if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than Novus’s independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which Novus has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below $10.00 per public share, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under Novus’s indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, Mr. Donargo, will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. Novus has not independently verified whether Mr. Donargo has sufficient funds to satisfy his indemnity obligations and, therefore, Mr. Donargo may not be able to satisfy those obligations. Novus has not asked Mr. Donargo to reserve for such obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for Novus’s initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, Novus may not be able to complete its initial business combination, and its stockholders would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of their public shares. Except to the extent of Mr. Donargo’s indemnification obligations described above, none of Novus’s officers or directors will indemnify Novus for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

Facilities

We currently maintain our principal executive offices at 8556 Oakmont Lane, Indianapolis, IN 46260 which is provided to us by Robert J. Laikin, our Chairman, for no fee. We consider our current office space, combined with the other office space otherwise available to our executive officers, adequate for our current operations.


Employees

We have two executive officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters and intend to devote only as much time as they deem necessary to our affairs. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for the business combination and the stage of the business combination process the company is in. Accordingly, once a suitable target business to acquire has been located, management may spend more time investigating such target business and negotiating and processing the business combination (and consequently spend more time on our affairs) than had been spent prior to locating a suitable target business. We presently expect our executive officers to devote such amount of time as they reasonably believe is necessary to our business. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the consummation of an initial business combination.

Periodic Reporting and Financial Information

Our units, common stock and warrants are registered under the Exchange Act and we have reporting obligations,file or furnish reports, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports filed pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the requirement thatExchange Act, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. We make copies of these reports and other information available free of charge through our website (under the heading “SEC Filings”) as soon as reasonably practicable after we file annual, quarterly and current reportsor furnish them with the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site at http://www.sec.gova website that contains such reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accounting firm.

We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to shareholders to assist them in assessing the target business. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) or international financial reporting standards as promulgated by the international accounting standards board (“IFRS”), dependingSEC at www.sec.gov. The information contained on the circumstanceswebsites referenced in this Annual Report is not incorporated by reference into this filing, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”). These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the completion window. While this may limit the pool of potential business combination candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.

We will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020website addresses are provided only as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

inactive textual references.


Item 1A. Risk Factors.

An investmentFactors


Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. YouBefore you make a decision to buy our securities, in addition to the risks and uncertainties discussed above under “Special Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements,” you should consider carefully all ofconsider the risks and uncertainties described below together with all of the other information contained in this annual report before making a decision to invest in our securities.Annual Report. If any of the following events or developments described below were to occur, our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition and operating results may becould suffer materially, adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

In addition to the The risks and uncertainties set forthdescribed below are not the only ones we face certain materialface. Additional risks and uncertainties relatednot presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect our business.


Summary of Risks Affecting Our Business

Our business is subject to a number of risks of which you should be aware before making a decision to invest in our securities. These risks include, among others, the following:

We have a history of losses and expect to incur significant expenses and continuing losses for the foreseeable future. Our business combination with AppHarvest. In addition,could be adversely affected if we succeed in effectingfail to effectively manage our future growth and liquidity.
We will require significant additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, may force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our operations and future growth.
We have an evolving business model, which increases the proposedcomplexity of our business combination, we will face additional and different risks and uncertainties related to the business of AppHarvest. Such material risks will be set forth in the Registration Statement on Form S-4, as amended, that we file with the SEC in connection with the meeting to be called to approve the proposed business combination.

We are a newly formed company with no operating history and, accordingly, you will not have any basis on whichmakes it difficult to evaluate our abilityfuture business prospects.

We face risks inherent in the greenhouse agriculture business, including the risks of diseases and pests.
We currently rely on a single facility for all of our operations.
Any damage to achieveor problems with our CEA facilities, or delays in land acquisition or construction, could severely impact our operations and financial condition.
Mastronardi is currently our sole, exclusive marketing and distribution partner. We are highly dependent on this relationship, and impairment to or termination of this relationship could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
We depend on employing a skilled local labor force, and failure to attract, develop, and retain qualified employees could negatively impact our business, objective.

results of operations and financial condition.

We arecould be adversely affected by a newly formed company with no operating resultschange in consumer preferences, perception and spending habits in the food industry, and failure to date. Therefore,develop and expand our ability to commence operations is dependent upon obtaining financing through the public offeringproduct offerings or gain market acceptance of our securities. Since weproducts could have negative effects on our business.
We may be unable to successfully execute on our growth strategy. Failure to adequately manage our planned growth strategy may harm our business or increase our risk of failure.
We have agreed not to compete with Mastronardi outside of Kentucky and West Virginia, which may limit our business opportunities.
We build CEA facilities which may be subject to unexpected costs and delays due to reliance on third parties for construction, material delivery, supply-chains and fluctuating material prices.
We may not be able to compete successfully in the highly competitive natural food market.
We recently concluded our first growing season and have only just begun our second, which makes it difficult to forecast future results of operations.
Demand for our current and expected future products, which include tomatoes, salad greens, berries, and other produce, is subject to seasonal fluctuations and may adversely impact our results of operations in certain quarters.
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Food safety and foodborne illness incidents or advertising or product mislabeling may materially adversely affect our business by exposing us to lawsuits, product recalls, regulatory enforcement actions, or changes in consumer demand increasing our operating costs and reducing demand for our product offerings.
As a public benefit corporation, our duty to balance a variety of interests may result in actions that do not have an operating history, you will have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective, which is to acquire an operating business. We will not generate any revenues until, at the earliest, after the consummation of a business combination.

Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”

As of December 31, 2020, we had $311,954 in cash and a working capital deficit of $2,606,959. Further, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of our finance and acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to consummate an initial business combination will be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this annual report do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to continue as a going concern.

maximize stockholder value.

If we are unable to consummate a business combination,apply technology effectively in driving value for our public stockholders mayclients through our technology-based platforms, our results of operations, client relationships and growth could be forcedadversely affected.

Risks Related to wait until November 19, 2021 before receiving distributions from the trust account.

Our Business and Industry


We have 18 months from our IPO, or until November 19, 2021, in whicha history of losses, and expect to complete aincur significant expenses and continuing losses for the foreseeable future. Our business combination. We have no obligation to return funds to stockholders prior to such date unless we consummate a business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where stockholders have sought to convert or sell their shares to us. Only after the expiration of this full time period will public security holderscould be entitled to distributions from the trust accountadversely affected if we are unablefail to complete a business combination. Accordingly, stockholders’ funds may be unavailableeffectively manage our future growth.

We incurred net losses of $166.2 million and $17.4 million during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. We believe we will continue to them until after such dateincur net losses for the foreseeable future as we continue to invest in world-class technology to increase production and to liquidate your investment, public security holders may be forced to sell their public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.

Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination.

We will either (1) seek stockholder approvalcommercial sales of our initial business combination at a meeting called for such purpose at which public stockholders may seek to convert their shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination or don’t vote at all, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), or (2) provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to sell their shares to us by means of a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), in each case subject to the limitations described elsewhere in this annual report. Accordingly, itproducts. There is possible thatno guarantee when, if ever, we will consummatebecome profitable. We expect to expend substantial resources as we:


complete the build-out of facilities for which building has commenced and begin construction on additional facilities;
continue harvesting existing crops and plant and harvest new crops in our initial business combination even if holdersexisting and future facilities;
fulfill our obligations under our marketing and distribution agreement with Mastronardi;
identify and invest in future growth opportunities, including the purchase or lease of a majorityland and new or expanded facilities;
invest in sales and marketing efforts to increase brand awareness, engage customers and drive sales of our products;
invest in product innovation and development; and
incur additional general administration expenses, including increased finance, legal and accounting expenses, associated with being a public shares docompany and growing operations.
These investments may not approve of the business combination we consummate. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. For instance, the Nasdaq rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a stockholder meeting but would still require us to obtain stockholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares to a target business as consideration in any business combination. Therefore, if we were structuring a business combination that required us to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares, we would seek stockholder approval of such business combination instead of conducting a tender offer.


Our stockholders are not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of blank check companies.

Since the net proceeds of our IPO are intended to be used to complete a business combination with a target business that has not been identified, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, since we had net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the consummation of our IPO and filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors of blank check companies such as Rule 419. Accordingly, our stockholders will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules which would, for example, completely restrict the transferability of our securities, require us to complete a business combination within 18 months of the effective date of the initial registration statement and restrict the use of interest earned on the funds held in the trust account. Because we are not subject to Rule 419, our securities will be immediately tradable, we are entitled to withdraw amounts from the funds held in the trust account prior to the completion of a business combination.

If we determine to change our acquisition criteria or guidelines, many of the disclosures contained in this annual reportwould not be applicable and you would be investing in our company without any basis on which to evaluate the potential target business we may acquire.

We could seek to deviate from the acquisition criteria or guidelines disclosed in this annual report although we have no current intention to do so. Accordingly, investors may be making an investment in our company without any basis on which to evaluate the potential target business we may acquire. Regardless of whether or not we deviate from the acquisition criteria or guidelines in connection with any proposed business combination, stockholders will always be given the opportunity to convert their shares or sell them to us in a tender offer in connection with any proposed business combination as described in this annual report.

We may issue shares of our capital stock or debt securities to complete a business combination, which would reduce the equity interest of our stockholders and likely cause a change in control of our ownership.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 30,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $.0001 per share. As of December 31, 2020, there are 4,100,000 authorized but unissued shares of common stock available for issuance (after appropriate reservation for the issuance of the shares underlying the public and private warrants). The issuance of additional shares of common stock or preferred stock:

may significantly reduce the equity interest of our stockholders;

may subordinate the rights of holders of shares of common stock if we issue shares of preferred stock with rights senior to those afforded to our shares of common stock;

may cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of common stock are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removalgrowth of our present officers and directors; and

may adversely affect prevailing market prices forbusiness. Even if these investments do result in the growth of our shares of common stock.

Similarly,business, if we issue debt securities, it could result in:

default and foreclosure ondo not effectively manage our assets if our operating revenues after a business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;

acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;

our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand; and

our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding.


If we incur indebtedness, our lenders will not have a claim on the cash in the trust account and such indebtedness will not decrease the per-share conversion amount in the trust account.

If the existing cash held out of the trust account is insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 18 months, we may be unable to complete a business combination.

As of December 31, 2020, we have $311,954 of cash held outside of the trust account. If we use all of the funds held outside of the trust account, we may not have sufficient funds available with which to structure, negotiate or close an initial business combination. In such event, we would need to borrow funds from initial stockholders, officers or directors or their affiliates to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Our initial stockholders, officers, directors and their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount that they deem reasonable in their sole discretion for our working capital needs. Each loan would be evidenced by a promissory note. The notes would either be paid upon consummation of our initial business combination, without interest, or, at holder’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of the notes may be converted into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant.

If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in trust could be reduced and the per-share redemption price received by stockholders may be less than $10.00.

Our placing of funds in trust may not protect those funds from third party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors and service providers we engage and prospective target businesses we negotiate with execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, they may not execute such agreements. Furthermore, even if such entities execute such agreements with us, they may seek recourse against the trust account. A court may not uphold the validity of such agreements. Accordingly, the proceeds held in trust could be subject to claims which could take priority over those of our public stockholders. If we are unable to complete a business combination and distribute the proceeds held in trust to our public stockholders, Vincent Donargo, our Chief Financial Officer, has agreed (subject to certain exceptions described elsewhere in this annual report) that he will be liable to ensure that the proceeds in the trust account are not reduced below $10.00 per share by the claims of target businesses or claims of vendors or other entities that are owed money by us for services rendered or contracted for or products sold to us. However, we have not asked Mr. Donargo to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether Mr. Donargo has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations. Therefore, we cannot assure you that Mr. Donargo will be able to satisfy his indemnification obligations if he is required to do so. As a result, the per-share distribution from the trust account may be less than $10.00, plus interest, due to such claims.

Additionally, if we are forced to file a bankruptcy case or an involuntary bankruptcy case is filed against us which is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account,growth, we may not be able to returnexecute on our business plan and vision, respond to competitive pressures, take advantage of market opportunities, satisfy customer requirements or maintain high-quality product offerings, any of which could adversely affect our public stockholdersbusiness, financial condition and results of operations.


We will require significant additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, may force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our operations and future growth.

The high-tech greenhouse agriculture business is extremely capital-intensive and we expect to expend significant resources to complete the build-out of facilities under construction, continue harvesting existing crops and plant and harvest new crops in our existing and future CEA facilities. These expenditures are expected to include working capital, costs of acquiring land, costs of acquiring and building out new facilities, costs associated with planting and harvesting, such as the purchase of seeds and growing supplies, and mitigation of pest and plant disease outbreaks, and the cost of attracting, developing and retaining a skilled labor force, including local labor. In addition, other unanticipated costs may arise due to the unique nature of these CEA facilities and of production within the facilities at scale. We currently import many of the supplies and materials for greenhouse production and operations from abroad, including the construction materials for our CEA facilities and seeds for plants. Accordingly, we are subject to risk of fluctuation in exchange rates, which could cause unexpected increases in our costs and harm our financial position. In addition, our ability to execute on our growth strategy and CEA technology require significant additional financing.

We expect that our existing cash and credit available under our loan agreements will be sufficient to fund our planned operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and any debt service payments through at least $10.00.

Ourthe next 12 months. However, our operating plan may change because of factors currently unknown, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private equity or debt financings or other sources, such as strategic collaborations. Such financings may result in dilution to stockholders, issuance of securities with priority as to liquidation and dividend and other rights more favorable than shares of our common stock (“Common Stock”), imposition of debt covenants and repayment obligations, or other restrictions that may be held liable for claims by third parties against usadversely affect our business. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to the extent of distributions received by them.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation providesfavorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe that we have sufficient funds for current or future operating plans. There can be no assurance that financing will continue in existence only until 18 months from the closing of our IPO, or until November 19, 2021. If we have not completed a business combination by such date, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem 100% of the outstanding public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including any interest not previously releasedbe available to us but net of franchise and income taxes payable, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the righton favorable terms, or at all. The inability to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject (in the case of (ii) and (iii) above) to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of the date of distribution. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that third parties will not seek to recover from our stockholders amounts owed to them by us.


If we are forced to file a bankruptcy case or an involuntary bankruptcy case is filed against us which is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, because we intend to distribute the proceeds held in the trust account to our public stockholders promptly after expiration of the time we have to complete an initial business combination, this may be viewed or interpreted as giving preference to our public stockholders over any potential creditors with respect to access to or distributions from our assets. Furthermore, our board may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.

Our directors may decide not to enforce Mr. Donargo’s indemnification obligations, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below $10.00 per public share and Mr. Donargo asserts that he is unable to satisfy his obligations or that he has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against Mr. Donargo to enforce such indemnification obligations. It is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.

If we do not file and maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, holders will only be able to exercise such warrants on a “cashless basis.”

If we do not file and maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants at the time that holders wish to exercise such warrants, they will only be able to exercise them on a “cashless basis” provided that an exemption from registration is available. As a result, the number of shares of common stock that holders will receive upon exercise of the warrants will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised his warrant for cash. Further, if an exemption from registration is not available, holders would not be able to exercise on a cashless basis and would only be able to exercise their warrants for cash if a current and effective prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is available. Under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed to use our best efforts to meet these conditions and to file and maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to do so. If we are unable to do so, the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company may be reduced or the warrants may expire worthless.

A stockholder will only be able to exercise a warrant if the issuance of shares of common stock upon such exercise has been registered or qualified or is deemed exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the holder of the warrants.

No warrants will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue shares of common stock unless the shares of common stock issuable upon such exercise has been registered or qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the holder of the warrants. If the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not qualified or exempt from qualification in the jurisdictions in which the holders of the warrants reside, the warrants may be deprived of any value, the market for the warrants may be limited and they may expire worthless if they cannot be sold.

The private warrants may be exercised at a timeobtain financing when the public warrants may not be exercised.

Once the private warrants become exercisable, such warrants may immediately be exercised on a cashless basis, at the holder’s option, so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees. The public warrants, however, will only be exercisable on a cashless basis at the option of the holders if we fail to register the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act within 90 days following the closing of our initial business combination. Accordingly, it is possible that the holders of the private warrants could exercise such warrants at a time when the holders of public warrants could not.

We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders with the approval by the holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding warrants.

Our warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision. The warrant agreement requires the approval by the holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding warrants in order to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders.


A provision of our warrant agreementneeded may make it more difficult for us to consummateoperate our business or implement our growth plans.

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We have an initialevolving business combination.

If:

we issue additional shares of common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection withmodel, which increases the closingcomplexity of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue priceand makes it difficult to evaluate our future business prospects.

Our business model is continuing to evolve. We are primarily engaged in building a sustainable food company with a resilient and scalable ecosystem of less than $9.20 per share of common stock,

applied technology greenhouses to serve the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60%rapidly growing consumer demand for fresh, chemical-free, non-GMO fruits, vegetables and related value-added products in the U.S. We also intend to pursue additional CEA opportunities through partnerships with third parties, including opportunities outside of the total equity proceeds,U.S. With the Root AI Acquisition, we are also engaged in building an applied technology company, through our ATI subsidiary, which develops CEA technology solutions for internal use and interest thereon, available for potential sale to customers in the fundingglobal CEA industry. From time to time, we may continue to modify aspects of our initial business combinationmodel relating to our products and services. We do not know whether these or any other modifications will be successful. The evolution of and modifications to our business model will continue to increase the complexity of our business and place significant strain on our management, personnel, operations, systems, technical performance and financial resources. Future additions to or modifications of our business model are likely to have similar effects. Further, any new products or services we offer that are not favorably received by the datemarket could damage our reputation or our brand. The occurrence of any of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and

the Market Value is below $9.20 per share,

then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the price at which we issue the additional shares of common stock or equity-linked securities. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.

Because we are not limited to any particular industry, specific geographic location or any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’ operations.

Although we intend to focus on target businesses in the smart technology innovation markets, including the 5G communications, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, cloud based technology, machine learning and digital logistics, distribution and storage sectors, we may pursue acquisition opportunities in any business industry or sector or geographic location. Except for the limitations that a target businessforegoing could have a fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the trust account (less any taxes payablematerial adverse effect on interest earned on the trust account)our business, financial condition and that we are not permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations, we will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition candidate. Because we have not yet identified or approached any specific target business with respect to our initial business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we consummate our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerousoperations.


We face risks inherent in the greenhouse agriculture business, operationsincluding the risks of diseases and pests.

We are focused on building large-scale CEA facilities in Appalachia with whichthe goal of providing quality domestic supply of fresh fruits and vegetables to nearly 70% of the U.S. population. We primarily grow two varieties of tomatoes at the Morehead CEA facility — tomatoes on the vine and beefsteak tomatoes — and expect to expand to other tomato varieties and other fruits and vegetables such as berries, peppers, cucumbers, and salad greens in the future at other facilities. As such, we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected byare subject to the risks inherent in an agricultural business, such as insects, plant and seed diseases and similar agricultural risks, which may include crop losses, for which we are not insured; production of non-saleable products; and rejection of products for quality or other reasons, all of which may materially affect our operational and financial performance. Although our produce is grown in climate-controlled greenhouses, there can be no assurance that natural elements will not have an effect on the businessproduction of these products. In particular, plant diseases, such as root rot or tomato brown rugose fruit virus (“ToBRFV”), or pest infestations, such as whiteflies, can destroy all or a significant portion of our produce and operationscould eliminate or significantly reduce production until we are able to disinfect the greenhouse and grow replacement tomatoes or other vegetables and fruits. ToBRFV is a virus affecting tomatoes, peppers and possibly other plants. Seed and transplant production are the most critical areas to identify the virus as contamination creates the risk of spreading to hundreds, if not thousands, of plants. ToBRFV can be transmitted mechanically and spread between plants or on contaminated tools, clothes or hands and mitigation efforts could require a complete facility clean out, including multiple sanitations with disinfectants known to be effective on the ToBRFV. ToBRFV may lead to reduced crop quality, ending a crop cycle early or clearing out a portion of a financially unstableCEA facility or a development stage entity. Although our officersits entirety. In addition, delivery of tomato crops across the U.S-Mexico and directors will endeavorU.S.-Canada borders encounters additional inspections due to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risksToBRFV and those crops may be outside of our controldenied entry.

Although we have taken, and leave us with no abilitycontinue to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. An investment in our units may not ultimately provetake, precautions to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in an acquisition target.

Past performance by our management teamguard against crop diseases and pests, these efforts may not be indicativesufficient. For example, in June 2021 and during the course of the fourth quarter of 2021, we experienced outbreaks of various pests and disease on certain of our plants. In response, we undertook several mitigation efforts, including the removal of plants, shortened growing periods of plants that were or may have been affected, and modifications to operational practices to eliminate or greatly reduce potential transmission vectors. These efforts adversely affected, and will continue to affect, yields for the 2021-2022 growing season at our Morehead facility. For the full 2022 fiscal year, we estimate that these mitigations efforts could lower our yields at the Morehead CEA facility in the range of 10% to 15% of our initial internal projections. In addition, diseases and pests can make their way into greenhouses from outside sources over which we have limited or no control. Diseases and pests can be inadvertently brought in by employees, from seed and propagation vendors and from the trucks that transport supplies to the greenhouse. Once a disease or pest is introduced, we will need to quickly identify the problem and take remedial action in order to preserve the growing season. Failure to identify and remediate any diseases or pests in a timely manner could cause the loss of all or a portion of our crop and result in substantial time and resources to resume operations. Crop losses as a result of these agricultural risks have and could continue to negatively and materially impact our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.


We currently rely on a single facility for all of our operations.

Our first CEA facility is a 2.76 million square foot CEA facility in Morehead, Kentucky, which partially opened in October 2020 and became fully operational in March 2021. For the immediate future, performancewe will rely solely on the operations at the
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Morehead CEA facility. Adverse changes or developments affecting the Morehead CEA facility could impair our ability to produce our products and our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. Any shutdown or period of reduced production at the Morehead CEA facility, which may be caused by regulatory noncompliance or other issues, as well as other factors beyond our control, such as severe weather conditions, natural disaster, fire, power interruption, work stoppage, disease outbreaks or pandemics (such as COVID-19), equipment failure or delay in supply delivery, would significantly disrupt our ability to grow and deliver our produce in a timely manner, meet our contractual obligations and operate our business. Our greenhouse equipment is costly to replace or repair, and our equipment supply chains may be disrupted in connection with pandemics, such as COVID-19, trade wars, labor shortages, or other factors. If any material amount of our machinery were damaged, we would be unable to predict when, if at all, we could replace or repair such machinery or find co-manufacturers with suitable alternative machinery, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Any insurance coverage we have may not be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.

Any damage to or problems with our CEA facilities, or delays in land acquisition or construction, could severely impact our operations and financial condition.

Any damage to or problems with the Morehead CEA facility or any other CEA facilities we build or use in the future, including defective construction, repairs, or maintenance, could have an adverse impact on our operations and business. We face risks including, but not limited to:

Weather. Our operations may be adversely affected by severe weather including tornados, lightning strikes, wind, snow, hail and rain. A tornado, lightning strike, severe hailstorm or unusually large amount of precipitation could cause damage or destruction to all or part of our greenhouse or affect the ability of our workforce to get to or remain at the facility. We may be required to expend significant resources and time in mitigating damage to our crops, and such damage may not be covered by insurance. The impact of a severe weather event or natural disaster could result in significant losses and seriously disrupt our entire business.
Water Supply. We irrigate our plants with rainwater, collected in a 10-acre on-site retention pond, eliminating the need for city water or well water. The pond is designed to be constantly aerated with nanobubble technology, which combats harmful algae blooms and cyanotoxins. Once rainwater is pumped into the facility from the pond, it enters a closed-loop irrigation system. The water is processed through a sand filter and then sanitized with UV light. This destroys viruses, bacteria and protozoa without the use of chemicals and with no unwanted disinfection by-products. Despite these precautions, there remains risk of contamination to our water supply from outside sources. Any contamination of the water in the retention pond could require significant resources to correct and could result in damage or interruption to our growing season.
Energy Costs or Interruption. Although our plants primarily grow using natural sunlight, requiring less energy per plant than indoor warehouse farms, we do supplement the light our plants receive with LED lighting and high-pressure sodium lighting, which makes us vulnerable to rising energy costs. We have diesel generators to maintain energy supply in the case of an investmentoutage, but these generators would not be able to power the facility for any prolonged period of time and therefore outages could result in reduced crop yield. Rising or volatile energy costs may adversely impact our business, and our operations could be significantly affected by a prolonged power outage.

In addition, we have experienced and may continue to experience unexpected delays in building our CEA facilities for a variety of reasons, including limited financing, limited labor due to COVID-19 or other factors, unexpected construction problems or severe weather. For example, to incorporate design and other insights from construction of the 15-acre Berea salad greens facility and to maintain flexibility in the Company.

Information regarding performance by,allocation of capital resources, we temporarily paused development of the 10-acre Morehead salad greens facility with construction expected to resume in 2022 for a 2023 delivery. If we experience significant unexpected delays in construction, we may have to limit or businesses associated with,miss out on an entire growing season depending on the timing and extent of the delays, which could harm our management teambusiness, financial condition and their affiliatesresults of operations.


We depend on employing a skilled local labor force, and failure to attract, develop and retain qualified employees could negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Agricultural operations are labor intensive, and the growing season for greenhouses is presentedyear-round. In general, each year, we plan to begin planting in August or September, grow and harvest the produce into June, July, or August and then remove plants and clean the greenhouse in August. These year-round operations depend on the skills and regular availability of labor in Appalachia.

We have rapidly hired in the region as we prepared to open our CEA facility and benefited from a strong network of employer assistance programs ready to help companies interested in locating in the region to provide jobs for informational purposes only. Past performance byits ready
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workforce. However, there is competition for skilled agricultural labor in the region, particularly from the cannabis, food, and distribution industries, and even if we are able to identify, hire and develop our management teamlabor force, there is not ano guarantee either (i) that we will be able to identifyretain these employees. For example, we have observed an overall tightening and increasingly competitive local labor market. In order to forestall any potential labor shortfall, we have hired contract laborers from outside of the region to help complete our next harvest. If we are unable to hire, develop and retain a suitable candidate forlabor force capable of performing at a high-level, or if mitigation measures we take to respond to a deficit of adequate local labor, such as overtime and contract laborers, have unintended negative effects, our initial business combinationresults of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. Further, the operation of CEA facilities requires unique skills, which may not be widely available in the regions where we operate. Any shortage of labor, lack of training or (ii)skills, or lack of success with respectregular availability could restrict our ability to operate our greenhouses profitably, or at all.

In addition, efforts by labor unions to organize our employees could divert management attention away from regular day-to-day operations and increase our operating expenses. Labor unions may make attempts to organize our non-unionized employees. We are not aware of any business combinationactivities relating to union organizations at any of our facilities, but we cannot predict which, if any, groups of employees may seek union representation in the future or the outcome of any collective bargaining. If we are unable to negotiate acceptable collective bargaining agreements, we may consummate. You should not relyhave to wait through “cooling off” periods, which are often followed by union-initiated work stoppages, including strikes. Depending on the historical recordtype and duration of our any work stoppage, our operating expenses could increase significantly, which could negatively impact our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our results of operations can be adversely affected by labor shortages, turnover and labor cost increases.

Labor is a primary component of operating our business. A number of factors may adversely affect the labor force available to us or increase labor costs, including high employment levels, government unemployment subsidies, including unemployment benefits offered in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic, and other government regulations. We have recently observed an overall tightening and increasingly competitive local labor market. A sustained labor shortage or increased turnover rates within our employee base, including those caused by COVID‐19, or measures taken to address COVID-19, or as a result of general macroeconomic factors, could lead to increased costs, such as increased overtime to meet demand and increased wage rates to attract and retain employees, and could negatively affect our ability to efficiently operate our greenhouse equipment and overall business.

If we are unable to hire, develop and retain employees capable of performing at a high-level, or if mitigation measures we may take to respond to a decrease in labor availability, such as overtime and contract laborers, have unintended negative effects, our business could be adversely affected. An overall labor shortage, lack of skilled labor, increased turnover or labor inflation, including those caused by COVID‐19 or as a result of general macroeconomic factors, could have a material adverse impact on our operations, results of operations, liquidity or cash flows.

Our management team’s performancehas limited experience in operating a public company.

Our executive officers have limited experience in the management of a publicly traded company. Our management team may not successfully or effectively manage our regulatory oversight and reporting obligations as indicativea public company under the federal securities laws of the U.S. Our management’s limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities, which will result in less time being devoted to the management and growth of our future performancecompany. We may not have adequate personnel with the appropriate level of an investmentknowledge, experience, and training in the accounting policies, practices or internal controls over financial reporting required of public companies in the U.S. The development and implementation of the standards and controls necessary for us to achieve the level of accounting standards required of a public company in the U.S. may require costs greater than expected. It is possible that we will be required to expand our employee base and hire additional employees to support our operations as a public company, which will increase our operating costs in future periods.

Mastronardi is currently our sole, exclusive marketing and distribution partner. We are highly dependent on our relationship with Mastronardi, and impairment to or termination of this relationship could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Mastronardi is our exclusive marketing and distribution partner for all Products pursuant to the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement. Under the terms of the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement, we are responsible for growing, producing, packing and delivering all Products to Mastronardi, and Mastronardi is responsible for marketing, branding and distributing the Products to
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its customers. Mastronardi will sell the Products at market prices that are consistent with the best and highest prices available during the duration of the applicable growing season for like kind USDA Grade No. 1 products. Mastronardi will set the market price for the Products and will pay over to us the gross sale price of the Products sold by Mastronardi, less a marketing fee and Mastronardi’s costs incurred in the sale and distribution of the Products, which can fluctuate.

Mastronardi is only obligated to purchase our products that are at or above USDA Grade No. 1 standards and export quality standards within North America and of a quality required by Mastronardi’s customers, in Mastronardi’s sole determination. The Mastronardi Morehead Agreement provides for an inspection period during which Mastronardi will inspect our products to determine whether it meets the required quality standards, and Mastronardi may reject and return any of our products that do not meet these standards. Any significant or unexpected rejection of our products could negatively impact our results of operations, and we may be unable to sell the rejected products to other third parties. Further, because Mastronardi acts as an intermediary between us and the retail grocers or foodservice providers, we do not have short-term or long-term commitments or minimum purchase volumes with them that ensure future sales of our products.

If we expand our growing acreage or operations in Kentucky or West Virginia, Mastronardi has a right of first refusal to be the exclusive distributor of any produce arising as a result of such expansion for the greater of ten years from the date of first commercial production of the additional products or the returnsremainder of the company will, or is likely to, generate going forward.

We may seek acquisition opportunities outsideterm of the smart technology innovation markets, which may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.

We may consider a business combination outside the smart technology innovation markets, which may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise, if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company.Mastronardi Morehead Agreement. In the event we elector our affiliates engage in the business of growing fresh produce in a greenhouse in Kentucky and West Virginia, Mastronardi has the right to pursuedeem such New Grower Facility to be under an acquisition outsideagreement with Mastronardi on the same material terms and conditions of the areasMastronardi Morehead Agreement for a period of ten years. In December 2020, Mastronardi elected to deem our Richmond tomato facility and Berea salad greens facility to be New Grower Facilities.


Due to the exclusive nature of this long-term distribution relationship, we could also be adversely affected if Mastronardi experiences impairment to its brand and reputation or to its financial condition. Mastronardi and we are each entitled to terminate the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement in the case of the other party’s uncured breach of the contract or bankruptcy or insolvency. If the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement is terminated, we may experience difficulty or delay in finding a suitable replacement distributor in a timely manner or at all, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.

We could be adversely affected by a change in consumer preferences, perception and spending habits in the food industry, and failure to develop and expand our product offerings or gain market acceptance of our management’s expertise,products could have a negative effect on our management’s expertisebusiness.

The market in which we operate is subject to changes in consumer preference, perception and spending habits. Our performance will depend significantly on factors that may affect the level and pattern of consumer spending in the U.S. food industry market in which we operate. Such factors include consumer preference, consumer income, consumer confidence in and perception of the safety and quality of our products and shifts in the perceived value for our products relative to alternatives.

Consumer Preferences. We currently produce primarily tomatoes on the vine and beefsteak tomatoes. Although tomatoes are the second most popular fresh market vegetable per capita in the U.S., with per capita consumption increasing significantly in the past 40 years, there is no guarantee that tomatoes will continue to garner this popularity, that consumers will prefer the varieties of tomatoes grown by us, or that we will be successful in capturing a sufficient market share. If we are able to expand our product offerings to include other vegetables and fruits, such as cucumbers, peppers, salad greens, and berries, we will similarly be impacted by consumer preferences for such vegetables and fruits.
Safety and Quality Concerns. Media coverage regarding the safety or quality of, or diet or health issues relating to, our products or the processes involved in our manufacturing, may damage consumer confidence in our products. For example, manufacturers and regulatory authorities have issued recalls of tomatoes in the past due to issues such as salmonella contamination. Any widespread safety or quality issues involving tomatoes or other fresh fruits or vegetables — even if not involving us — could adversely affect consumer confidence in and demand for such tomatoes or other fresh produce.
Consumer Income. A general decline in the consumption of our products could occur at any time as a result of change in consumer spending habits, including an unwillingness to pay a premium or an inability to purchase our products due to financial hardship, inflation, or increased price sensitivity, which may be exacerbated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic or other events.

The success of our products will depend on a number of factors including our ability to accurately anticipate changes in market demand and consumer preferences, our ability to differentiate the quality of our products from those of our competitors,
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and the effectiveness of marketing and advertising campaigns for our products. We may not be directly applicablesuccessful in identifying trends in consumer preferences and growing or developing products that respond to its evaluationsuch trends in a timely manner. We or operation, and the information contained in this annual report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our managementpartners also may not be able to adequately ascertaineffectively promote our products by marketing and advertising campaigns and gain market acceptance. If our products fail to gain market acceptance, are restricted by regulatory requirements, have quality problems, or assess all of the significant risk factors relevant to such acquisition. Accordingly, any stockholder who chooses to remain a stockholder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.


Although we identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.

Although we have identified specific criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we consummate our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce our initial business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if stockholder approval of the transaction is required by Nasdaq rules, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share (whether or not the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) or potentially less on our redemption, and our warrants will expire worthless.

Management’s flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition candidate, along with our management’s financial interest in consummating our initial business combination, may lead management to enter into an acquisition agreement that is not in the best interest of our stockholders.

Subject to the requirement that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses or assets having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the trust account (less any taxes payable on interest earned on the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into such initial business combination, we will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition candidate. Our security holders will be relying on management’s ability to identify business combinations, evaluate their merits, conduct or monitor diligence and conduct negotiations. Management’s flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition candidate, along with management’s financial interest in consummating our initial business combination, may lead management to enter into an acquisition agreement that is not in the best interest of our stockholders.

We may seek acquisition opportunities with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings.

To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operationsconsumer perceptions of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business modelsafety and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining executive officers and directors. Althoughquality even arising from our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business,competitors’ products, we may not be able to properly ascertainfully recover costs and expenses incurred in our operations, and our business, financial condition or assess allresults of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.

Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

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. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a widespread health crisis and is adversely affecting the economies and financial markets in the U.S. and worldwide, and could adversely affect the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combinationoperations could be materially and adversely affected.  Furthermore,


We may be unable to successfully execute on our growth strategy.

Our growth strategy includes the development of new CEA facilities and the expansion of our product line.

New Controlled Agriculture Facilities. Our first CEA facility, which spans approximately 60 acres, opened its first 30 acres of growing space in Morehead, Kentucky in October 2020, with the remainder becoming operational in March 2021 and production beginning in May 2021. We have begun construction on our next four facilities in Berea, Richmond, Somerset and Morehead. In October 2020, we announced that we had broken ground at the facility in Richmond. The facilities will include 60 acres of growing space for tomatoes on the vine at the Richmond tomato facility and 15 acres of salad greens at the Berea salad greens facility. Both new facilities are expected to be operational by the end of 2022. In the second quarter of 2021, we began construction of the 30 acre Somerset facility to grow berries and a 10 acre salad greens facility at the Morehead salad greens facility. For risks related to delays in construction of our CEA facilities, please see the risk factor “Any damage to or problems with our CEA facilities, or delays in construction, could severely impact our operations and financial condition.” From time to time, we enter into other agreements to purchase, or options to purchase, additional properties for potential development. We expect to develop additional CEA facilities only after obtaining the necessary capital, assuming, among other things, that we are able to obtain necessary capital when needed and on acceptable terms.

Identifying, planning, developing, constructing and finishing new CEA facilities in Central Appalachia has required and will continue to require substantial time, capital, and resources. Greenhouses, such as the Morehead CEA facility and other facilities, require a large amount of flat land with a maximum cut and fill area, the ability to obtain the appropriate permits and approvals, sufficient utilities and road access and adequate availability of skilled labor, among other things. We may be unsuccessful in identifying available sites in Central Appalachia that are conducive to our planned projects, and even if identified, we may ultimately be unable to lease, purchase, build or operate on the land for any number of reasons. Because of the capital-intensive nature of these projects, we will need to prioritize which sites we plan to develop, and there can be no guarantee that we will select or prioritize sites that will ultimately prove to be appropriate for construction. Further, we may spend time and resources developing sites at the expense of other appropriate sites, which may ultimately have been a better selection or more profitable location. On the other hand, if we overestimate market demand and expands into new locations too quickly, we may have significantly underutilized assets and may experience reduced profitability. If we do not accurately align capacity at our greenhouses with demand, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

New Product Lines. We aspire to develop a leading fruit and vegetable brand widely known for its sustainable practices. We plan to leverage our strong mission to build an iconic brand recognized and revered by a loyal customer base that values a sustainable homegrown food supplier. We have built a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform that we expect will power our direct-to-consumer and value-added products businesses. The platform utilizes Shopify to manage our e-commerce business and Bluegrass Integrated Communications for our logistics and storage needs. We successfully launched and sold out our first value-added product, salsa, in 2021, and we expect to leverage this platform as we continue to refine and grow our value-added products strategy in the future, depending on the availability of financing on acceptable terms. We have paused the sale and development of our salsa and other products in 2022. The three farms expected to be operational in 2022 should provide us a significantly larger volume of produce from which to derive value-added and direct-to-consumer products when expected sales and development resume. Accordingly, we plan to spend time and resources developing capacity for larger-scale production that we believe will enable us to secure financing and permit us to relaunch our value-added products at a larger scale in the future.

We may not be able to implement our growth strategy successfully. Our sales and operating results will be adversely affected if we fail to implement our growth strategy or if we invest resources in a growth strategy that ultimately proves unsuccessful.

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Failure to adequately manage our planned growth strategy may harm our business or increase our risk of failure.

For the foreseeable future, we intend to pursue a growth strategy for the expansion of our operations through increased product development and marketing. Our ability to rapidly expand our operations will depend upon many factors, including our ability to work in a regulated environment, establish and maintain strategic relationships with suppliers, and obtain adequate and necessary capital resources on acceptable terms. Any restrictions on our ability to expand may have a materially adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Accordingly, we may be unable to completeachieve our targets for sales growth, and our operations may not be successful or achieve anticipated operating results.

We have agreed not to compete with Mastronardi outside of Kentucky and West Virginia, which may limit our business opportunities.

We have agreed not to compete with Mastronardi outside of Kentucky and West Virginia, which includes the businesses of growing, harvesting, packaging, distributing or selling fresh produce, subject to certain exceptions for fresh produce that is grown in Kentucky or West Virginia. Although we are currently focused on building greenhouses in Central Appalachia, if we desired in the future to build or operate facilities outside of Kentucky or West Virginia that were competitive with Mastronardi, the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement requires us to obtain Mastronardi’s consent before doing so. If Mastronardi withholds such consent for any reason, this could have the effect of restricting certain business opportunities outside of Kentucky and West Virginia during the term of the non-compete provision. The non-compete provision runs for ten years from the date of a first commercial harvest from the Morehead CEA facility and also runs for ten years measured from the date of a first commercial harvest from a facility deemed to be a New Grower Facility by Mastronardi under the terms of the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement.

We build CEA facilities, which may be subject to unexpected costs and delays due to reliance on third parties for construction, material delivery, supply-chains and fluctuating material prices.

We build CEA facilities that are dependent on a number of key inputs and their related costs including materials such as steel and glass and other supplies, as well as electricity and other local utilities. Any significant interruption or negative change in the availability or economics of the supply chain for key inputs could materially impact our business, combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19 continue restrict travel, continue to limitfinancial condition and operating results. We have entered into a direct contractual relationship with Dalsem for the construction of our Richmond tomato facility and Berea salad greens facility and Dalsem also provides significant construction services for the Morehead CEA facility. We have also entered into a direct contractual relationship with Havecon for the construction of our Somerset facility. If Dalsem or Havecon encounter unexpected costs, delays or other problems in building these CEA facilities, our financial position and ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendorsexecute on our growth strategy could be negatively affected. Any inability to secure required supplies and services providersor to do so on appropriate terms could have a materially adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results.

The price of production, sale and distribution of these goods may fluctuate widely based on the impact of numerous factors beyond our control including international, economic and political trends, transportation disruptions, inflation, global or regional consumptive patterns, speculative activities and increased production due to new production and distribution developments and improved production and distribution methods. In addition, we import substantially all of the construction materials used to build the CEA facilities. The use of third-party import services can cause logistical problems, unexpected costs and delays in facility construction, which we cannot directly control. Any prolonged disruption of third-party delivery and shipping services could negatively affect our facility building schedule. Rising costs associated with third-party transportation services used to ship materials may also adversely impact our building schedule and crop season planning, and more generally our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact worldwide economic activity, and the governments of many countries, states, cities and other geographic regions have taken preventative or protective actions in response, such as closures or other restrictions on the conduct of business operations of manufacturers, suppliers and vendors, which are unavailablecreating disruption in global supply chains. The increased global demand on shipping and transport services may cause us to negotiate and consummate a transactionexperience delays in the future, which could impact our ability to obtain materials or build our greenhouses in a timely manner. These factors could otherwise disrupt our operations and could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we experience significant unexpected delays in construction, we may have to limit or miss out on an entire growing season depending on the timing and extent of the delays, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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We may not be able to compete successfully in the highly competitive natural food market.

We operate in the highly competitive natural foods environment. With the importing of vine crops rapidly increasing, our competition includes large-scale operations in Mexico and to a lesser extent the southwestern U.S. In this market, competition is based on, among other things, product quality and taste, brand recognition and loyalty, product variety, product packaging and package design, shelf space, reputation, price, advertising, promotion and nutritional claims.

We may not be able to compete successfully with imported goods, including from Mexico and Canada. A risk for high-tech producers in the U.S. is that lower-cost Mexican producers will be able to increasingly step up and meet emerging U.S. retail market preferences for higher quality, improved product safety, year-round availability, and product innovation. Mexican producers achieve this not by investing equivalent capital, but by leveraging climatic advantages at lower cost. Market leadership will accrue to the most efficient producers who are able to reliably meet the needs of large U.S. retailers and can demonstrate advantages in marketing strategy, geography, technology, and production learning curves sufficient to warrant the substantial long- term working capital required to fuel the expected sustained growth of this niche. Meanwhile, Canadian producers are beginning or expanding production in the U.S. The extentmajor factors driving this expansion are brand value of U.S. production and lower transportation and energy costs at U.S. facilities. The Canadian greenhouse industry is located primarily in Ontario in the east and British Columbia in the west. The Canadian greenhouse industry is supported by extensive government subsidies and financing that allows them to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will dependcompete with the U.S. and Mexico on future developments, whichproduction cost.

We also face competition from traditional greenhouse operators both domestic and abroad, as well as from high-tech agricultural startups that are highly uncertainfocused on development of farms either in or near major cities.

Each of these competitors may have substantially greater financial and other resources than us and some of whose products are well accepted in the marketplace today. We cannot be predicted, including new information whichcertain that we will successfully compete with larger competitors that have greater financial, sales and technical resources. They may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.


Our ability to successfully effect a business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following a business combination. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after a business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct.

Our ability to successfully effect a business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our key personnel, at least until wealso have consummated our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain with us for the immediate or foreseeable future. In addition, none of our officers is required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, our officers will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have employment agreements with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our officers. The unexpected loss of the services of our key personnel could have a detrimental effect on us.

The role of our key personnel after a business combination, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel serve in senior management or advisory positions following a business combination, it is likely that most, if not all, of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after a business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a public company which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.

Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following a business combinationlower operational costs, and as a result may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.

Our key personnel will be able to remainoffer comparable or substitute products to customers at lower costs. This could put pressure on us to lower our prices, resulting in lower profitability or, in the alternative, cause us to lose market share if we fail to lower prices. Retailers may also market competitive products under their own private labels, which are generally sold at lower prices, and may change the merchandising of our products so we have less favorable placement.


The CEA agriculture business also has low barriers to entry, and we will not be able to prevent competitors from building and operating similar greenhouses. We rely heavily on the know-how of our employees and management team, our experience and our relationships with significant stakeholders in the agriculture industry and in Central Appalachia.

In addition, our ability to compete successfully in this market depends, in large part, on our ability to implement our growth strategy of building additional controlled environment facilities and expanding our product line. Our sales and operating results will be adversely affected if we fail to implement our growth strategy or if we invest resources in a growth strategy that ultimately proves unsuccessful.

We recently concluded our first growing season and have only just begun our second season, which makes it difficult to forecast future results of operations.
Our first CEA facility in Morehead, Kentucky partially opened in October 2020, marking the beginning of our first growing season. The Morehead CEA facility was completed in March 2021 and we concluded our first growing season in August 2021. We recently completed planting our second crop in September 2021 and the harvest of the new crop commenced in the fourth quarter of 2021. As a result, our ability to accurately forecast future results of operations is limited and subject to a number of uncertainties, including our ability to plan for and model future growth. In future periods, net sales growth could slow or net sales could decline for a number of reasons, including plant diseases or pest infestations, slowing demand for our products, increasing competition, a decrease in the growth of the overall market, or our failure, for any reason, to take advantage of growth opportunities. If our assumptions regarding these risks and uncertainties and future net sales growth are incorrect or change, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our operating and financial results could differ materially from our expectations, and our business could suffer.

If we fail to develop and maintain our brand, our business could suffer.

We plan to leverage our strong mission to build an iconic brand recognized and revered by a loyal customer base that values a sustainable homegrown food supplier. Our success depends on our ability to maintain and grow the value of our brand. Maintaining, promoting and positioning our brand and reputation will depend on, among other factors, the success of our
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product offerings, food safety, quality assurance, marketing and merchandising efforts, our continued focus on the environment and sustainability and ability to provide a consistent, high-quality consumer and customer experience. Any negative publicity, regardless of its accuracy, could impair our business.

With respect to our products that will be distributed by Mastronardi, Mastronardi controls the packaging, branding and marketing of these products. Although Mastronardi has agreed to use its best efforts to include the AppHarvest name and branding on our products, it is under no obligation to do so if such inclusion would conflict with instructions from a Mastronardi customer for the products or Mastronardi believes that we have suffered material impairment to our reputation or any of our brands. If Mastronardi does not include prominent AppHarvest branding on the packaging of our products we distribute, or if Mastronardi fails to effectively market our products, this could hamper our efforts to establish and grow our brand and reputation.

Further, the growing use of social and digital media by us, our consumers and third parties increases the speed and extent that information or misinformation and opinions can be shared. Negative publicity about us, our partners or our products on social or digital media could seriously damage our brand and reputation. Brand value is based on perceptions of subjective qualities, and any incident that erodes the loyalty of our consumers, customers or distributors, including adverse publicity or a governmental investigation, litigation, including securities class actions, or regulatory enforcement action, could significantly reduce the value of our brand and significantly damage our business. If we do not achieve and maintain favorable perception of our brand, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our brand and reputation may be diminished due to real or perceived quality, food safety, or environmental issues with our products, which could negatively impact our business, reputation, operating results and financial condition.

Real or perceived quality, food safety, or environmental concerns or failures to comply with applicable food regulations and requirements, whether or not ultimately based on fact and whether or not involving our products (such as incidents involving Mastronardi or our competitors), could cause negative publicity and reduced confidence in our company, afterbrand or products, which could in turn harm our reputation and sales, and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Brand value is also based on perceptions of subjective qualities, such as appearance and taste, and any incident that erodes the consummationloyalty of our consumers, including changes to product appearance, taste or packaging, could significantly reduce the value of our brand and significantly damage our business.

We also have no control over our products once Mastronardi or any other distributor takes possession of them. Distributors or consumers may store our products under conditions and for periods of time inconsistent with USDA, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”), and other governmental guidelines, which may adversely affect the quality and safety of our products.

If consumers do not perceive our products to be of high quality or safe, then the value of our brand would be diminished, and our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected. Any loss of confidence on the part of consumers in the quality and safety of our products would be difficult and costly to overcome. Any such negative effect could be exacerbated by our market positioning as a socially conscious grower of high-quality produce and may significantly reduce our brand value. Issues regarding the safety of any of our products, regardless of the cause, may harm our brand, reputation and operating results.

Our estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the market in which we compete achieves the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.

Our market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts, are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate, particularly in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the related economic impact. The variables that go into the calculation of our market opportunity are subject to change over time, and there is no guarantee that any particular number or percentage of customers covered by these market opportunity estimates will purchase our products at all or generate any particular level of net sales for us. Any expansion in our market depends on a number of factors, including the cost and perceived value associated with our product and those of our competitors. Even if the market in which we compete meets our size estimates and growth forecast, our business could fail to grow at the rate we anticipate, if at all. Our growth is subject to many factors, including success in implementing our business strategy, which is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, any forecasts of market growth should not be taken as indicative of our future net sales or growth prospects.

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Demand for our current and expected future products, which include tomatoes, berries, peppers, cucumbers, other vine produce, and salad greens is subject to seasonal fluctuations and may adversely impact our results of operations in certain quarters.

Demand for our current and expected future products, which include tomatoes berries, peppers, cucumbers, other vine produce, and salad greens fluctuates and tends to be greater during the summer months. As a result, comparisons of our sales and operating results between different quarters within a single fiscal year may not necessarily be meaningful comparisons. If we are not correct in predicting demand and planning our growing seasons accordingly, we may experience a supply and demand imbalance, which could adversely impact our results of operations.

If we cannot maintain our company culture or focus on our vision as we grow, our business and competitive position may be harmed.

Our vision is to create America’s AgTech capital from within Appalachia and provide better produce, better farming practices and better jobs. Any failure to preserve our culture or focus on our vision could negatively affect our ability to retain and recruit personnel, which is critical to our growth, and to effectively focus on and pursue our corporate objectives. As we grow and develop the infrastructure of a public company, we may find it difficult to maintain these important values. If we fail to maintain our company culture or focus on our vision, our business combinationand competitive position may be harmed.

Recent and future acquisitions could disrupt our business and adversely affect our business operations and financial results.

We have in the past acquired products, technologies and businesses from other parties, such as our recent acquisition of Root AI in April 2021, and we may choose to expand our current business by acquiring additional businesses or technologies in the future. Acquisitions, including the Root AI Acquisition, involve many risks, including the following:

an acquisition may negatively affect our financial results because it may require us to incur charges (including impairment charges) or assume substantial debt or other liabilities, may cause adverse tax consequences or unfavorable accounting treatment, may expose us to claims and disputes by third parties, including intellectual property claims and disputes, or may not generate sufficient financial return to offset additional costs and expenses related to the acquisition;
we may encounter difficulties or unforeseen expenditures in integrating the business, technologies, products, personnel or operations of any company that we acquire, particularly if key personnel of the acquired company decide not to work for us;
an acquisition may disrupt our ongoing business, divert resources, increase our expenses and distract our management;
an acquisition may result in uncertainty about continuity and effectiveness of service from either company;
we may encounter difficulties in, or may be unable to, successfully integrate or sell any acquired solutions;
an acquisition may involve the entry into geographic or business markets in which we have little or no prior experience or where competitors have stronger market positions;
our use of cash to pay for an acquisition would limit other potential uses for our cash; and
if we incur debt to fund such acquisition, such debt may subject us to material restrictions on our ability to conduct our business as well as financial maintenance covenants.

For example, we recently incurred an after tax expense of $59.7 million related to the full impairment of the goodwill and definite lived technology intangibles acquired with Root AI. The occurrence of any of these risks could have an adverse effect on our business operations and financial results. In addition, we may only if they arebe able to negotiate employmentconduct limited due diligence on an acquired company’s operations. Following an acquisition, we may be subject to unforeseen liabilities arising from an acquired company’s past or consulting agreements or other appropriate arrangements in connection withpresent operations and these liabilities may be greater than the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combinationwarranty and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to the company after the consummation of the business combination. The personalindemnity limitations that we negotiate. Any unforeseen liability that is greater than these warranty and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business.

Our officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. Thisindemnity limitations could have a negative impact on our abilityfinancial condition.


Food safety and foodborne illness incidents or advertising or product mislabeling may materially adversely affect our business by exposing us to consummate a business combination.

Our officerslawsuits, product recalls, regulatory enforcement actions, or changes in consumer demand increasing our operating costs and directors will not commit their full timereducing demand for our product offerings.


Selling food for human consumption involves inherent legal and other risks, and there is increasing governmental scrutiny of and public awareness regarding food safety. Unexpected side effects, illness, injury or death related to allergens, foodborne illnesses or other food safety incidents caused by products, or involving our suppliers, could result in the discontinuance of
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sales of these products or our relationships with such suppliers, or otherwise result in increased operating costs, regulatory enforcement actions, or harm to our affairs. We presently expect eachreputation. Shipment of adulterated or misbranded products, even if inadvertent, can result in criminal or civil liability. Such incidents could also expose us to product liability, negligence, or other lawsuits, including consumer class action lawsuits. Any claims brought against us may exceed or be outside the scope of our officersexisting or future insurance policy coverage or limits. Any judgment against us that is more than our policy limits or not covered by our policies or not subject to insurance would have to be paid from our cash reserves, which would reduce our capital resources.

The occurrence of foodborne illnesses or other food safety incidents could also adversely affect the price and directorsavailability of affected raw materials, resulting in higher costs, disruptions in supply and a reduction in sales. Furthermore, any instances of food contamination or regulatory noncompliance, whether or not caused by our actions, could compel us, our suppliers, distributors or customers, depending on the circumstances, to devote such amountconduct a recall in accordance with FDA regulations, and comparable state laws. Food recalls could result in significant losses due to their costs, the destruction of product inventory, lost sales due to the unavailability of the product for a period of time as they reasonably believe is necessary to our business. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the consummationand potential loss of our initial business combination. The foregoing could haveexisting distributors or customers and a potential negative impact on our ability to consummateattract new customers due to negative consumer experiences or because of an adverse impact on our initial business combination.

Our officersbrand and directors mayreputation. The costs of a recall could be outside the scope of our existing or future insurance policy coverage or limits.


In addition, food companies have been subject to targeted, large-scale tampering as well as to opportunistic, individual product tampering, and we, like any food company, could be a conflicttarget for product tampering. Forms of interest in determining whether a particular target business is appropriate for a business combination.

Our initial stockholders waived their righttampering could include the introduction of foreign material, chemical contaminants, and pathological organisms into consumer products as well as product substitution. FDA regulations require companies like us to convert their founder sharesanalyze, prepare, and implement mitigation strategies specifically to address tampering designed to inflict widespread public health harm. If we do not adequately address the possibility, or any actual instance, of product tampering, we could face possible seizure or recall of our products, suspension of our facilities’ registrations, and/or the imposition of civil or criminal sanctions, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results.


Our operations are subject to FDA and USDA governmental regulation and state regulation, and there is no assurance that we will be in compliance with all regulations.

Our operations are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and other shares purchased afterfederal, state and local authorities. Specifically, we are subject to the IPO, requirements of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and regulations promulgated thereunder by the FDA. This comprehensive regulatory program governs, among other things, the manufacturing, composition and ingredients, packaging, labeling and safety of food. Under this program, the FDA requires that facilities that grow, pack, and/or process food products comply with a range of requirements, including standards for the growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of produce, hazard analysis and preventative controls regulations, current good agricultural practices, or GAPs, current good manufacturing practices, or GMPs, and supplier verification requirements. Our processing facilities are subject to periodic inspection by federal, state and local authorities. If we cannot successfully manufacture products that conform to our specifications and the strict regulatory requirements of the FDA or others, we may be subject to adverse inspectional findings or enforcement actions, which could materially impact our ability to market our products or could result in a recall of our product that have already been distributed. If the FDA or a comparable foreign regulatory authority determines that we have not complied with the applicable regulatory requirements, our business may be materially impacted.

We seek to comply with applicable regulations through a combination of employing internal experience and expert personnel to ensure quality-assurance compliance (i.e., assuring that products are not adulterated or misbranded) and contracting with third-party laboratories that conduct analyses of products to ensure compliance with nutrition labeling requirements and to identify any potential contaminants before distribution. Failure by us to comply with applicable laws and regulations or maintain permits, licenses or registrations relating to our operations could subject us to civil remedies or penalties, including fines, injunctions, recalls or seizures, warning letters, restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of products, or refusals to permit the import or export of products, as well as potential criminal sanctions, which could result in increased operating costs resulting in a material effect on our operating results and business.

Changes in existing laws or regulations, or the adoption of new laws or regulations, may increase our costs and otherwise adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The manufacture and marketing of food products is highly regulated. We and our suppliers are subject to a variety of laws and regulations. These laws and regulations apply to many aspects of our business, including the manufacture, packaging, labeling, distribution, advertising, sale, quality, and safety of our products, as well as the health and safety of our employees and the protection of the environment.
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In the U.S., we are subject to regulation by various government agencies, including the FDA, Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”), Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”), and USDA, as well as various state and local agencies. We are also regulated outside the U.S. by various international regulatory bodies. In addition, depending on customer specification, we may be subject to certain voluntary, third-party standards, such as Global Food Safety Initiative, standards and review by voluntary organizations, such as the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ National Advertising Division. We could incur costs, including fines, penalties and third-party claims, because of any violations of, or liabilities under, such requirements, including any competitor or consumer challenges relating to compliance with such requirements. The loss of third-party accreditation could result in lost sales and customers, and may adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. In connection with the marketing and advertisement of our products, we could be the target of claims relating to false or deceptive advertising, including under the auspices of the FTC and the consumer protection statutes of some states.

The regulatory environment in which we operate could change significantly and adversely in the future. Any change in manufacturing, labeling or packaging requirements for our products may lead to an increase in costs or interruptions in production, either of which could adversely affect our operations and financial condition. New or revised government laws and regulations could result in additional compliance costs and, in the event of non-compliance, civil remedies, including fines, injunctions, withdrawals, recalls, or seizures and confiscations, as well as potential criminal sanctions, any of which may adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Failure by any partner farms, suppliers of raw materials or co-manufacturers to comply with food safety, environmental or other laws and regulations, or with the specifications and requirements of our products, may disrupt our supply of products and adversely affect our business.

If our suppliers, or any partner farms or co-manufacturers that we engage or may engage in the future, fail to comply with food safety, environmental, or other laws and regulations, or face allegations of non-compliance, our operations may be disrupted. Additionally, such partner farms and co-manufacturers would be required to maintain the quality of our products and to comply with our standards and specifications. In the event of actual or alleged non-compliance, we might be forced to find alternative partner farms, suppliers or co-manufacturers and we may be subject to lawsuits related to such non-compliance by such partner farms, suppliers, and co-manufacturers. As a result, our supply of produce and finished inventory could be disrupted or our costs could increase, which would adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. The failure of any future co-manufacturer to produce products that conform to our standards could adversely affect our reputation in the marketplace and result in product recalls, product liability claims, and economic loss. Additionally, actions we may take to mitigate the impact of any disruption or potential disruption in our supply of produce, including increasing inventory in anticipation of a potential supply or production interruption, may adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

We are subject to stringent environmental regulation and potentially subject to environmental litigation, proceedings, and investigations.

Our business operations and ownership and operation of real property are subject to stringent and complex federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations pertaining to the discharge of materials into the environment, and the handling and disposition of hazardous materials (including pesticides) and wastes (including solid and hazardous wastes) or otherwise relating to protection of the environment and to occupational safety and health. In addition, we may be required to obtain and maintain environmental permits for our business operations under certain environmental laws and regulations. Compliance with these laws and regulations, and the ability to comply with any modifications to these laws and regulations, is material to our business. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may result in the assessment of administrative, civil and criminal penalties, imposition of investigatory and remedial obligations and the issuance of injunctions delaying or prohibiting our business operations. New matters or sites may be identified in the future that will require additional investigation, assessment, or expenditures. Future discovery of contamination of property underlying or in the vicinity of our present properties or facilities and/or waste disposal sites could require us to incur additional expenses. The occurrence of any of these events, the implementation of new laws and regulations, regulations, or stricter interpretation of existing laws or regulations, could adversely affect our financial results.

Climate change and the regulation of greenhouse gases emissions have the potential to affect our business operations. For example, the EPA has adopted regulations for the measurement and annual reporting of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases emitted from certain large facilities. In addition, both houses of Congress have considered legislation to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and a number of states have taken, or are considering taking, legal measures to reduce
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emissions of greenhouse gases. In January 2021, President Biden issued the 2021 Climate Change Executive Order that, among other things, sets goals of a carbon pollution free power sector by 2035 and a net zero economy by 2050. This Executive Order also commenced the process for the U.S. reentering the Paris Climate Agreement. The Paris Climate Agreement provides for the cutting of carbon emissions every five years, beginning in 2023, and sets a goal of keeping global warming to a maximum limit of two degrees Celsius and a target limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius greater than pre-industrial levels. Federal and state regulatory agencies can impose administrative, civil and/or criminal penalties for non-compliance with greenhouse gas requirements. In addition, states and local governments are undertaking efforts to meet climate goals. Even if limits on greenhouse gas emissions are not directly applicable to us, they could result in increased electricity, fuel or other supply costs that may adversely affect our business. Moreover, some experts believe climate change poses potential physical risks, including an increase in sea level and changes in weather conditions, such as an increase in precipitation and extreme weather events. Our operations may be adversely affected by severe weather including tornados, lightning strikes, wind, snow, hail and rain.

We limit the use of chemical pesticides in accordance with our Chemical Pesticide Policy. Any use of chemical pesticides, as defined in our Chemical Pesticide Policy, to address any pests incidents will be disclosed, as stated in that policy, in our annual sustainability report. In any such circumstance we would use, to the extent practicable, the chemical pesticide with the lowest human toxicity, and apply such substance in a manner designed to eliminate or minimize pesticide residue on our products. Chemical pesticide use may cause reputational harm and could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We use biopesticides and biofungicides as a part of an integrated crop management program whereby cultural controls are used to limit pesticide intervention. Biopesticides and biofungicides are only used where no other control step is practicable. From time to time, we use ethephon-based products, considered organophosphate pesticides by the United States EPA, as plant growth regulators to facilitate even ripening of tomatoes on the vine. The federal environmental laws to which our operations are, or may be, subject include the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and regulations thereunder, which regulate pesticides; the Clean Air Act (CAA) and regulations thereunder, which regulate air emissions; the Clean Water Act (CWA) and regulations thereunder, which regulate the discharge of pollutants in industrial wastewater and storm water runoff; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and regulations thereunder, which regulate the management and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous solid wastes; and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and regulations thereunder, known more commonly as “Superfund,” which impose liability for the remediation of releases of hazardous substances in the environment. We are also subject to regulation under OSHA and regulations thereunder, which regulate the protection of the safety and health of workers. Analogous state and local laws and regulations may also apply.

The unavailability, reduction or elimination of government and economic incentives could negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

Any reduction, elimination or discriminatory application of government subsidies and economic incentives because of policy changes, the reduced need for such subsidies and incentives due to the perceived success of our operations or other reasons may result in the diminished competitiveness of the CEA facility industry generally or our products in particular. This could materially and adversely affect the growth of the CEA facility markets and our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We rely on information technology systems and any inadequacy, failure, interruption or security breaches of those systems may harm our ability to effectively operate our business.

We are dependent on various information technology systems, including, but not limited to, networks, applications, operating systems, and outsourced services in connection with the current and planned operation of our business.

A failure of these information technology systems to perform as anticipated could cause our business to suffer. For example, our growers are aided in their work by climate and greenhouse operations software designed by Priva B.V. If this software does not perform as anticipated, our growers may receive distributionsinadequate or erroneous information about the condition of the plants being grown, which may result in increased mitigation expenses, waste, additional labor expenses and partial or full loss of the crop.

In addition, our information technology systems may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from circumstances beyond our control, including fire, natural disasters, systems failures, viruses and security breaches. Any such damage or interruption could negatively impact our business.

A cybersecurity incident or other technology disruptions could negatively impact our business.

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We use or plan to use computers, software and technology in substantially all aspects of our business operations. We build and operate robotics which rely on these technologies. Our employees also use or plan to use mobile devices, social networking and other online activities to connect with crew members, distributors, customers and consumers. Such uses give rise to cybersecurity risks, including security breaches, espionage, system disruption, theft and inadvertent release of information. Cybersecurity incidents are increasing rapidly in their frequency, sophistication and intensity, with third-party phishing and social engineering attacks in particular increasing in connection with the trust accountCOVID-19 pandemic. Our business involves sensitive information and intellectual property, including know-how, private information about crew members and financial and strategic information about us and our business partners.

While we have implemented and plans to implement measures to prevent security breaches and cyber incidents, these preventative measures and incident response efforts may not be entirely effective. The theft, destruction, loss, misappropriation or release of sensitive information or intellectual property, or interference with respect to their founder shares upon our liquidation ifinformation technology systems or the technology systems of third parties on which we rely, could result in business disruption, negative publicity, brand damage, violation of privacy laws, loss of customers and distributors, potential liability and competitive disadvantage all of which could negatively impact our business, financial condition or results of operations.

If we are unable to consummate aapply technology effectively in driving value for our clients through our technology-based platforms, our results of operations, client relationships and growth could be adversely affected.

Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to anticipate and respond effectively to the threat and opportunity presented by digital disruption and developments in technology. These may include new robotics and automation products which we seek to introduce as turnkey CEA technology solutions. We may be exposed to competitive risks related to the adoption and application of new technologies by established market participants (for example, through disintermediation) or new entrants such as technology companies and others. These new entrants are focused on using technology and innovation, including artificial intelligence, to simplify and improve the client experience, increase efficiencies, alter business combination. Accordingly, the founder shares, as well as the private warrantsmodels and any warrants purchased by our officers or directorseffect other potentially disruptive changes in the aftermarket, willindustries in which we operate. If we fail to develop and implement technology solutions and technical expertise among our employees that anticipate and keep pace with rapid and continuing changes in technology, industry standards, client preferences and internal control standards, our value proposition and operating efficiency could be worthless if we doadversely affected. We may not consummatebe successful in anticipating or responding to these developments on a business combination. The personaltimely and financial interests ofcost-effective basis and our directorsideas may not be accepted in the marketplace. Additionally, the effort to gain technological expertise and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination and in determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate anddevelop new technologies in our stockholders’ best interest.


business requires us to incur significant expenses. Our officersability to build our technology depends on obtaining necessary capital when needed and directors or their affiliates have fiduciary and contractual obligations and may in the future become affiliated with other entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining toon acceptable terms, which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

Our officers and directors or their affiliates have fiduciary and contractual obligations to other companies. Accordingly, they may participate in transactions and have obligations that may be in conflict or competition with our consummation of our initial business combination. As a result, a potential target business may be presented by our management team to another entity prior to its presentation to us and we may not be afforded the opportunityable to engage insecure. If we cannot offer new technologies as quickly as our competitors, or if our competitors develop more cost-effective technologies or product offerings, we could experience a transactionmaterial adverse effect on our results of operations, client relationships, growth and compliance programs.


The loss of any intellectual property could enable other companies to compete more effectively with such target business. Additionally, our officersus.

We own trademarks and directors may in the future become affiliated with entitiesother proprietary rights that are engaged in a similarimportant to our business, including another blank check companyour principal trademark, AppHarvest. Our trademarks are valuable assets that may have acquisition objectivesreinforce the distinctiveness of our brand to consumers. We believe that are similar to ours. Accordingly, they may have conflictsthe protection of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favortrademarks, copyrights and a potential target business may be presented to other entities prior to its presentation to us, subjectdomain names is important to our officers’success. We have also invested a significant amount of money in establishing and directors’ fiduciary duties under Delaware law. For a more detailed description ofpromoting our officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, see the sections titled “Management — Directors and Executive Officers” and “Management — Conflicts of Interest.”

EarlyBirdCapital may have a conflict of interest in rendering services to us intrademarked brand. In connection with our initial business combination.

acquisition of Root AI, (now AppHarvest Technology, Inc.), we acquired nine U.S. patent applications, which, if issued, are expected to expire in 2039 to 2041, without taking into account any possible patent term adjustment. We have engaged EarlyBirdCapitalalso rely on unpatented proprietary expertise and copyright protection to assist us in connectiondevelop and maintain our competitive position. Our continued success depends, to a significant degree, upon our ability to protect and preserve our intellectual property, including trademarks and copyrights.


We rely on confidentiality agreements and trademark and copyright law to protect our intellectual property rights. These confidentiality agreements with our initial business combination. We will pay EarlyBirdCapital a cash fee for such services in an aggregate amount equal to up to 3.5%employees and certain of the total gross proceeds raised in the offering only if we consummate our initial business combination. The private warrants purchased by EarlyBirdCapital or its designeesconsultants, contract employees, suppliers and the representative shares will alsoindependent contractors generally require that all confidential information be worthless if we do not consummate an initial business combination. These financial interests may result in EarlyBirdCapital having a conflict of interest when providing the services to us in connection with an initial business combination.

Nasdaq may delist our securities from quotation on its exchange which could limit securityholders’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

Our securities are listed on Nasdaq, a national securities exchange. kept strictly confidential.


We cannot assure you that the steps we have taken to protect our securities will continue tointellectual property rights are adequate, that our intellectual property rights can be listed on Nasdaqsuccessfully defended and asserted in the future prioror that third parties will not infringe upon or misappropriate any such rights. In addition, our trademark rights and related registrations may be challenged in the future and could be canceled or narrowed. Failure to protect our trademark rights could prevent us in the future from challenging third parties who use names and logos similar to our trademarks, which may in turn cause consumer confusion or negatively affect consumers’ perception of our brand and products. We also cannot offer any assurances about which of our patent applications will issue, the breadth of any resulting patent or whether any of the issued patents will be found invalid and unenforceable or
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will be threatened by third parties. We cannot offer any assurances that the breadth of our granted patents will be sufficient to stop a competitor from developing and commercializing robots, gripping tools and arms, and sensors that would be competitive with one or more of the technologies we are developing. Moreover, intellectual property disputes and proceedings and infringement claims may result in a significant distraction for management and significant expense, which may not be recoverable regardless of whether we are successful. Such proceedings may be protracted with no certainty of success, and an initialadverse outcome could subject us to liabilities, force us to cease use of certain trademarks or other intellectual property or force us to enter into licenses with others. Any one of these occurrences may negatively impact our business, combination. Additionally,financial condition and results of operations.

We may be unable to obtain or qualify for government grants and incentives in the future.

We applied for and received various government grants and incentives in connection with building the Morehead CEA facility, and we may in the future apply for federal and state grants, loans and tax incentives under government programs designed to stimulate the economy and support sustainable agriculture. Our ability to obtain funds or qualify for incentives from government or other sources is subject to availability of funds under applicable programs and approval of our initial business combination, it isapplications to participate in such programs. The application process for these funds and other incentives will likely that Nasdaq will require us to file a new initial listing application and meet its initial listing requirements as opposed to its more lenient continued listing requirements.be highly competitive. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in obtaining or qualifying for any of these additional grants, loans and other incentives, and failure to obtain or qualify for these grants, loans and other incentives could have a negative effect on our operating costs and ability to open additional greenhouses.

If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting estimates prove to be incorrect, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that it believes to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Critical Accounting Estimates.” The results of these estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities and equity, and the amount of net sales and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Significant estimates and judgments involve the useful lives of fixed assets, the valuation of instruments issued for financing and stock-based compensation, and income taxes, among others. Our results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the market price of our securities.

Our employees and independent contractors may engage in misconduct or other improper activities, including noncompliance with regulatory standards and requirements, which could negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

We are exposed to the risk that our employees and independent contractors may engage in misconduct or other illegal activity. Misconduct by these parties could include intentional, reckless or negligent conduct or other activities that violate laws and regulations, including production standards, U.S. federal and state fraud, abuse, data privacy and security laws, other similar non-U.S. laws or laws that require the true, complete and accurate reporting of financial information or data. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct by employees and other third parties, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations.

In addition, we are subject to the risk that a person or government could allege such fraud or other misconduct, even if none occurred. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results, including, without limitation, the imposition of significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, monetary fines, disgorgement, integrity oversight and reporting obligations to resolve allegations of non-compliance, imprisonment, other sanctions, contractual damages, reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings and curtailment of our operations, any of which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

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The COVID-19 pandemic could negatively impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, and variants thereof, governments have implemented significant measures, including closures, quarantines, travel restrictions and other social distancing directives, intended to control the spread of the virus. Companies have also taken precautions, such as requiring employees to work remotely, imposing travel restrictions and temporarily closing businesses. While such measures have been relaxed in certain jurisdictions, to the extent that these restrictions remain in place, additional prevention and mitigation measures are implemented in the future, or there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of these or any other measures to contain, treat, or prevent COVID-19, there is likely to be an adverse impact on global economic conditions and consumer confidence and spending, which could materially and adversely affect our operations and demand for our products.

Although we have not experienced material financial impacts due to the pandemic, the fluid nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainties regarding the related economic impact are likely to result in sustained market turmoil, which could also negatively impact our business, financial condition and cash flows. Although our business is considered an “essential business,” the COVID-19 pandemic could result in labor shortages, which could result in our inability to plant and harvest crops at full capacity and could result in spoilage or loss of unharvested crops. The impact of COVID-19 on any of our suppliers, distributors, transportation or logistics providers may negatively affect our costs of operation and our supply chain. If the disruptions caused by the COVID- 19 pandemic, including decreased availability of labor, continue despite the increasing availability of vaccines, our ability to meet the demands of distributors and customers may be materially impacted.

Further, the COVID-19 pandemic may impact customer and consumer demand. There may be significant reductions or volatility in consumer demand for our products due to the temporary inability of consumers to purchase these products due to illness, quarantine or financial hardship, shifts in demand away from one or more of our products, decreased consumer confidence and spending, inflation or pantry-loading activity, any of which may negatively impact our results, including as a result of an increased difficulty in planning for operations and future growing seasons.

The extent of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on our operational and financial performance will depend on future developments, including the duration, spread and intensity of the pandemic and the effectiveness of vaccines against COVID-19 and variants thereof, all of which are uncertain and difficult to predict considering the rapidly evolving landscape. As a result, it is not currently possible to ascertain the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business. However, if the pandemic continues to persist as a severe worldwide health crisis, the disease could negatively impact our business, financial condition results of operations and cash flows, and may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section.

Adherence to our values and our focus on long-term sustainability may negatively influence our short- or medium-term financial performance.

Our values are integral to everything we do. We are committed to empowering individuals in Appalachia, driving positive environmental change in the agriculture industry and improving the lives of our employees and the community at large. We may take actions in furtherance of those goals and, therefore, our stockholders over a longer period of time, even if those actions do not maximize short- or medium-term financial results. However, these longer-term benefits may not materialize within the timeframe we expect or at all. For example, we are a public benefit corporation under Delaware law. As a public benefit corporation, we are required to balance the financial interests of our stockholders with the best interests of those stakeholders materially affected by our conduct, including particularly those affected by the specific benefit purpose set forth in our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “amended and restated certificate of incorporation”). In addition, there is no assurance that the expected positive impact from being a public benefit corporation will be realized. Accordingly, being a public benefit corporation and complying with our related obligations could negatively impact our ability to provide the highest possible return to our stockholders.

As a public benefit corporation, we are required to publicly disclose a report at least biennially on our overall public benefit performance and on our assessment of our success in achieving our specific public benefit purpose. If we are not timely or are unable to provide this report, or if the report is not viewed favorably by parties doing business with us or regulators or others reviewing our credentials, our reputation and status as a public benefit corporation may be harmed.

While not required by Delaware law or the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, we elected to have our social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency assessed against the proprietary criteria established by an independent non-profit organization. As a result of this assessment, we have been designated as a “Certified B Corporation.” The term “Certified B Corporation” does not refer to a particular form of legal entity, but instead refers to
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companies that are certified by an independent non-profit organization as meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. The standards for Certified B Corporation certification may change over time. These standards may not be appropriately tailored to the legal requirements of publicly traded companies or to the operational requirements of larger companies. Our reputation could be harmed if we lose our status as a Certified B Corporation, whether by our choice or by our failure to meet certification requirements, if that change in status were to create a perception that we are more focused on financial performance and are no longer as committed to the values shared by Certified B Corporations. Likewise, our reputation could be harmed if our publicly reported B Corporation score declines and that created a perception that we have slipped in our satisfaction of the Certified B Corporation standards. Similarly, our reputation could be harmed if we take actions that are perceived to be misaligned with our values.

As a public benefit corporation, our duty to balance a variety of interests may result in actions that do not maximize stockholder value.

As a public benefit corporation, our board of directors (the “Board”) has a duty to balance (i) the pecuniary interest of our stockholders, (ii) the best interests of those materially affected by our conduct and (iii) specific public benefits identified in our charter documents. While we believe that our public benefit corporation designation and obligations will benefit our stockholders, in balancing these interests the Board may take actions that do not maximize stockholder value. Any benefits to stockholders resulting from our public benefit purposes may not materialize within the timeframe we expect or at all and may have negative effects.

For example:

We may choose to revise our policies in ways that we believe will be beneficial to our stakeholders, including farmers, employees, regional economic development organizations, retailers, sustainability experts at BSR, suppliers, local communities, and our internal senior management and Board members, even though the changes may be costly;
We may take actions, such as building state-of-the-art facilities with technology and quality control mechanisms that exceed the requirements of USDA, EPA, and the FDA, even though these actions may be more costly than other alternatives;
We may be influenced to pursue programs and services to demonstrate our commitment to the communities to which we serve and bringing ethically produced food to the table even though there is no immediate return to our stockholders; or
In responding to a possible proposal to acquire the company, our Board may be influenced by the interests of our stakeholders, including farmers, employees, regional economic development organizations, retailers, sustainability experts at BSR, suppliers, local communities, and our internal senior management and Board members, whose interests may be different from the interests of our stockholders.

We may be unable or slow to realize the benefits we expect from actions taken to benefit our stakeholders, including farmers, employees, suppliers and local communities, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

As a public benefit corporation, we may be subject to increased derivative litigation concerning our duty to balance stockholder and public benefit interests, the occurrence of which may have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

Stockholders of a Delaware public benefit corporation (if they, individually or collectively, own at least 2% of its outstanding capital stock shares of at least $2.0 million in market value) are entitled to file a derivative lawsuit claiming that its directors failed to balance stockholder and public benefit interests. This potential liability does not exist for traditional corporations. Therefore, we may be subject to the possibility of increased derivative litigation, which would require the attention of management and, as a result, may adversely impact management’s ability to effectively execute our strategy. Any such derivative litigation may be costly and have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Securities

We have previously identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. This material weakness could continue to adversely affect our ability to report our results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner.

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Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our management is likewise required, on a quarterly basis, to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls and to disclose any changes and material weaknesses identified through such evaluation of those internal controls. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.

The valuation of our Private Warrants could increase the volatility in our net income (loss) in our consolidated statements of earnings (loss).
At December 31, 2021, there were 13,241,717 warrants to purchase Common Stock outstanding, consisting of 10,906,409 public warrants (“Public Warrants”) and 2,335,308 private warrants (“Private Warrants” and together with Public Warrants, “Warrants”). The Private Warrants are held by the Novus initial stockholders. Each warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of Common Stock at a price of $11.50 per share. As further outlined in the Notes to our consolidated financial statements, the Private Warrants are classified as a liability and remeasured at fair value at each reporting date. The change in fair value of our Private Warrants is the result of changes in stock price and the number of warrants outstanding at each reporting period. The change in fair value of warrant liabilities represents the mark-to-market fair value adjustments to the outstanding Private Warrants issued in connection with Novus’s IPO. Significant changes in our stock price or number of Private Warrants outstanding may adversely affect our net income (loss) in our consolidated statements operations.

Concentration of ownership among our executive officers, directors and their affiliates may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.

As of December 1, 2021, our affiliates, executive officers, directors and their respective affiliates as a group beneficially owned approximately 34.6% of our outstanding Common Stock. As a result, these stockholders are able to meet those initialexercise a significant level of control over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, appointment and removal of officers, any amendment of the amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of mergers and other business combination transactions requiring stockholder approval, including proposed transactions that would result in our stockholders receiving a premium price for their shares and other significant corporate transactions. This control could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in management and will make the approval of certain transactions difficult or impossible without the support of these stockholders.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to comply with the continued listing requirements at that time.standards of Nasdaq.

Our Common Stock and Public Warrants are currently listed on Nasdaq will also have discretionary authority to not approve our listing if it determines thatunder the symbols “APPH” and “APPHW,” respectively. To maintain the listing of the companyour common stock on Nasdaq, we are required to be acquired is against public policymeet certain listing requirements, including, among others, either: (i) a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share, a market value of publicly held shares (excluding shares held by our executive officers, directors and 10% or more stockholders) of at that time.

least $5.0 million and stockholders’ equity of at least $10 million; or (ii) a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share, a market value of publicly held shares (excluding shares held by our executive officers, directors, affiliates and 10% or more stockholders) of at least $15.0 million and a total market value of listed securities of at least $50.0 million. If Nasdaq delists our securities from trading on its exchange orfor failure to meet the listing standards, we are not listed in connection withand our initial business combination, westockholders could face significant material adversenegative consequences including:

a
limited availability of market quotations for our securities;securities

reduced liquidity with respect to our securities;

a determination that our shares of common stock arethe Common Stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our shares of common stockthe Common Stock to adhere to more stringent rules, possibly resulting in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our shares of common stock;Common Stock;

a limited amount of newsanalyst coverage; and analyst coverage for our company; and

a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.

a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.

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The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because we expect that our units and eventually our common stock and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq, our units, common stock and warrants will be covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the salemarket price of our securities the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if therehas been and is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.


We are an “emerging growth company” and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our shares of common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. We will remain an “emerging growth company” for up to five years. However, if our non-convertible debt issued within a three year period or revenues exceeds $1.07 billion, or the market value of our shares of common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million on the last day of the second fiscal quarter of any given fiscal year, we would ceaselikely to be an emerging growth company as of the following fiscal year. As an emerging growth company, we are not required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, we have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and we are exempt from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. Additionally, as an emerging growth company, we have elected to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until those standards apply to private companies. As such, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates. We cannot predict if investors will find our shares of common stock less attractive because we may rely on these provisions. If some investors find our shares of common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our shares and our share price may be more volatile.

It is likely we will only be able to complete one business combination with the cash held in our trust account, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services.

It is likely we will consummate a business combination with a single target business, although we have the ability to simultaneously acquire several target businesses. By consummating a business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:

solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, or

dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.

This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to a business combination.

Alternatively, if we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses and such businesses are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete the business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.

The ability of our stockholders to exercise their conversion rights or sell their shares to us in a tender offer may not allow us to effectuate the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

If our business combination requires us to use substantially all of our cash to pay the purchase price, because we will not know how many stockholders may exercise conversion rights or seek to sell their shares to us in a tender offer, we may either need to reserve part of the trust account for possible payment upon such conversion, or we may need to arrange third party financing to help fund our business combination. In the event that the acquisition involves the issuance of our stock as consideration, we may be required to issue a higher percentage of our stock to make up for a shortfall in funds. Raising additional funds to cover any shortfall may involve dilutive equity financing or incurring indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. This may limit our ability to effectuate the most attractive business combination available to us.


In connection with any vote to approve a business combination, we will offer each public stockholder the option to vote in favor of a proposed business combination and still seek conversion of his, her or its shares.

In connection with any vote to approve a business combination, we will offer each public stockholder (but not our initial stockholders, officers or directors) the right to have his, her or its shares of common stock converted to cash (subject to the limitations described elsewhere in this annual report) regardless of whether such stockholder votes for or against such proposed business combination or does not vote at all. The ability to seek conversion while voting in favor of our proposed business combination may make it more likely that we will consummate a business combination.

In connection with any stockholder meeting called to approve a proposed initial business combination, we may require stockholders who wish to convert their shares in connection with a proposed business combination to comply with specific requirements for conversion that may make it more difficult for them to exercise their conversion rights prior to the deadline for exercising their rights.

In connection with any stockholder meeting called to approve a proposed initial business combination, each public stockholder will have the right, regardless of whether he is voting for or against such proposed business combination or does not vote at all, to demand that we convert his shares into a pro rata share of the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination. We may require public stockholders who wish to convert their shares in connection with a proposed business combination to either (i) tender their certificates to our transfer agent or (ii) deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using the Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holders’ option, in each case prior to a date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials sent in connection with the proposal to approve the business combination. In order to obtain a physical stock certificate, a stockholder’s broker and/or clearing broker, DTC and our transfer agent will need to act to facilitate this request. It is our understanding that stockholders should generally allot at least two weeks to obtain physical certificates from the transfer agent. However, because we do not have any control over this process or over the brokers or DTC, it may take significantly longer than two weeks to obtain a physical stock certificate. While we have been advised that it takes a short time to deliver shares through the DWAC System, we cannot assure you of this fact. Accordingly, if it takes longer than we anticipate for stockholders to deliver their shares, stockholders who wish to convert may be unable to meet the deadline for exercising their conversion rights and thus may be unable to convert their shares.

If, in connection with any stockholder meeting called to approve a proposed business combination, we require public stockholders who wish to convert their shares to comply with specific requirements for conversion, such converting stockholders may be unable to sell their securities when they wish to in the event that the proposed business combination is not approved.

If we require public stockholders who wish to convert their shares to comply with specific requirements for conversion and such proposed business combination is not consummated, we will promptly return such certificates to the tendering public stockholders. Accordingly, stockholders who attempted to convert their shares in such a circumstance will be unable to sell their securities after the failed acquisition until we have returned their securities to them. The market price for our shares of common stock may decline during this timehighly volatile, and you may not be able to sellresell your securities when you wish to, even while other stockholders that did not seek conversion may be able to sell their securities.

Becauseat or above the purchase price. The trading price of our structure,securities has been and is likely to be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.


The following factors, in addition to other companiesfactors described in this “Risk Factors” section and included elsewhere in this Annual Report, has and may have a competitive advantage and we may not be able to consummate an attractive business combination.

We expect to encounter intense competition from entities other than blank check companies having a business objective similar to ours, including venture capital funds, leveraged buyout funds and operating businesses competing for acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe that there are numerous potential target businesses that we could acquire with the cash held in our trust account, our ability to compete in acquiring certain sizable target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, seeking stockholder approval or engaging in a tender offer in connection with any proposed business combination may delay the consummation of such a transaction. Additionally, our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Any of the foregoing may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination.


Our initial stockholders control a substantial interest in us and thus may influence certain actions requiring a stockholder vote.

Our initial stockholders own approximately 19.8% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock. Our officers, directors, initial stockholders or their affiliates could determine in the future to make such purchases in the open market or in private transactions, to the extent permitted by law, in order to influence the vote or magnitude of the number of shareholders seeking to tender their shares to us. In connection with any vote for a proposed business combination, our initial stockholders, as well as all of our officers and directors, have agreed to vote the founder shares as well as any shares of common stock acquired in our IPO or in the aftermarket in favor of such proposed business combination.

It is unlikely that there will be an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of a business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the consummation of the business combination. Accordingly, you may not be able to exercise your voting rights under corporate law until the first stockholders’ meeting following a business combination.

Our board of directors is divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. It is unlikely that there will be an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of a business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the consummation of the business combination. Accordingly, you may not be able to exercise your voting rights under corporate law until the first stockholders’ meeting following a business combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for election and our initial stockholders, because of their ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome. Accordingly, our initial stockholders will continue to exert control at least until the consummation of a business combination.

Our outstanding warrants may have an adverse effectsignificant impact on the market price of our commonsecurities:


threatened or actual litigation or government investigations;
additional sales of our securities by us, our directors, executive officers or principal stockholders;
our operating and financial performance, quarterly or annual earnings relative to similar companies;
the public’s reaction to our press releases, our other public announcements and our filings with the SEC;
the occurrence of severe weather conditions and other catastrophes;
publication of research reports or news stories about us, our competitors or our industry, or positive or negative recommendations or withdrawal of research coverage by securities analysts;
announcements by us or our competitors of acquisitions, business plans or commercial relationships;
any major change in our Board or senior management;
adverse market reaction to any indebtedness we may incur or securities we may issue in the future;
short sales, hedging and other derivative transactions in our securities;
exposure to capital market risks related to changes in interest rates, realized investment losses, credit spreads, equity prices, foreign exchange rates and performance of insurance linked investments;
our creditworthiness, financial condition, performance, and prospects;
our dividend policy and whether dividends on our Common Stock have been, and are likely to be, declared and paid from time to time;
perceptions of the investment opportunity associated with our securities relative to other investment alternatives;
regulatory or legal developments;
changes in general market, economic, and political conditions;
conditions or trends in our industry, geographies or customers; and
changes in accounting standards, policies, guidance, interpretations or principles.

In addition, broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our securities, regardless of our actual operating performance, and factors beyond our control may cause our stock price to decline rapidly and unexpectedly. In addition, in the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. For example, we currently have one such putative class action complaint brought against us. Litigation of this type is expensive and could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects. Any adverse determination in litigation could also subject us to significant liabilities.

Litigation or legal proceedings could expose us to significant liabilities and have a negative impact on our reputation or business. For example, we are subject to securities litigation, which is expensive and could divert management attention and adversely impact our business.

From time to time, we may be party to various claims and litigation proceedings. For example, in September 2021, a putative securities class action complaint was filed against us and certain of our officers. The case is still pending. See Part II, Item 8. Note 11 - Commitments and Contingencies of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Reportfor more information. We evaluate these claims and litigation proceedings to assess the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes and to estimate, if possible, the amount of potential losses. Based on these assessments and estimates, we may establish reserves, as appropriate. These assessments and estimates are based on the information available to management at the time and involve a significant amount of management judgment. Actual outcomes or losses may differ materially from our assessments and estimates.

Even when not merited, the defense of these lawsuits is expensive and may divert management’s attention, and we may incur significant expenses in defending these lawsuits. The results of litigation and other legal proceedings are inherently uncertain, and adverse judgments or settlements in some of these legal disputes may result in adverse monetary damages, penalties or injunctive relief against us, which could negatively impact our financial position, cash flows or results of operations. Any claims or litigation, even if fully indemnified or insured, could damage our reputation and make it more difficult to effectcompete effectively or to obtain adequate insurance in the future.

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Furthermore, while we maintain insurance for certain potential liabilities, such insurance does not cover all types and amounts of potential liabilities and is subject to various exclusions as well as caps on amounts recoverable. Even if we believe a claim is covered by insurance, insurers may dispute our entitlement to recovery for a variety of potential reasons, which may affect the timing and, if the insurers prevail, the amount of our recovery.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about us, our business, combination.

We issued warrants to purchase 10,000,000or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our securities adversely, the price and trading volume of our securities could decline.


The trading market for our securities will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, market or competitors. Securities and industry analysts do not currently, and may never, publish research on us. If no securities or industry analysts commence coverage of us, the price and trading volume of our securities would likely be negatively impacted. If any of the analysts who may cover us change their recommendation regarding our shares of common stock as partCommon Stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the price of the units soldour shares of Common Stock would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the IPO and private warrantsfinancial markets, which in turn could cause our share price or trading volume to purchase 3,250,000decline.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares of common stock. WeCommon Stock are restricted from immediate resale but may also issue other warrantsbe sold into the market in the near future. This could cause the market price of our Common Stock to drop significantly, even if our initial stockholders, officers, directors or their affiliates in payment of working capital loans made to us as described in this annual report. To the extent we issue shares of common stock to effect a business combination, the potential for the issuanceis doing well.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of Common Stock in the public market could occur at any time. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of Common Stock. We are unable to predict the effect that sales may have on the prevailing market price of Common Stock and Public Warrants.

To the extent our Warrants are exercised, additional shares upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicleCommon Stock will be issued, which will result in dilution to the eyesholders of a target business. Such securities, when exercised, willCommon Stock and increase the number of issued and outstanding shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales, or the potential sales, of common stock and reducesubstantial numbers of shares in the value of the shares issued to complete the business combination. Accordingly,public market by our warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business combination orstockholders could increase the costvolatility of acquiring the target business. Additionally, the sale, or even the possibility of sale, of the shares underlying the warrants could have an adverse effect on the market price for our securities or on our ability to obtain future financing. If and to the extent these warrants are exercised, you may experience dilution to your holdings.

We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.

We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants (excluding the private warrants and any warrants issued to our initial stockholders, officers or directors in payment of working capital loans made to us) at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of the common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations and recapitalizations) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period commencing at any time after the warrants become exercisable and ending on the third business day prior to proper notice of such redemption provided that on the date we give notice of redemption and during the entire period thereafter until the time we redeem the warrants, we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you (i) to exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees.


Our management’s ability to require holders of our warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis will cause holders to receive fewer shares of common stock upon their exercise of the warrants than they would have received had they been able to exercise their warrants for cash.

If we call our public warrants for redemption after the redemption criteria described elsewhere in this annual report have been satisfied, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise his warrant (including any private warrants) to do so on a “cashless basis.” If our management chooses to require holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, the number of shares of common stock received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised his warrant for cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company.

If our security holders exercise their registration rights, it may have an adverse effect on the market price of Common Stock or adversely affect the market price of Common Stock.


In connection with the closing of the Business Combination, Novus’s prior registration rights agreement was amended and restated to, among other things, (i) provide our shares of common stockstockholders with three demand registration rights; (ii) provide our stockholders and the existence of these rights may make it more difficult to effect a business combination.

OurNovus initial stockholders are entitledcustomary underwritten takedown rights (subject to make a demand that we registercustomary priorities, minimums, frequency, and quantity limits, cutbacks, deferrals and other terms); and (iii) afford each of our stockholders and the resale of the founder shares at any time commencing three months prior to the date on which their shares may be released from escrow. Additionally, the holders of representative shares, the private warrants and any warrants ourNovus initial stockholders, officers, directors,on a pari passu basis, “piggy back” registration rights with respect to any underwritten offerings by the other stockholders and by us. The sale or their affiliates may be issued in paymentpossibility of working capital loans made to us, are entitled to demand that we register the resale of the representative shares, private warrants and any other warrants we issue to them (and the underlying securities) commencing at any time after we consummate an initial business combination. The presencesale of these additional securities trading in the public market may have an adverse effect onnegatively impact the market price of our securities.


In addition, we have filed a registration statement on Form S-8 under the existenceSecurities Act registering the issuance of these rights may make it more difficultapproximately 17.4 million shares of Common Stock subject to effectuate a business combinationoptions or increaseother equity awards issued or reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans. Shares registered under this registration statement on Form S-8 will be available for sale in the cost of acquiring the target business, as the stockholders of the target business may be discouraged from entering into a business combination with us or will request a higher price for their securities because of the potential effect thepublic market subject to vesting arrangements, exercise of such rights mayoptions, and settlement of restricted stock units.

Because we have no current plans to pay cash dividends on the trading marketCommon Stock for the foreseeable future, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell the Common Stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

We may retain future earnings, if any, for future operations, expansion and debt repayment and have no current plans to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any decision to declare and pay dividends as a public company in the future will be made at the discretion of our shares of common stock.

If we are deemed to be an investment company, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirementsBoard and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete a business combination.

A company that,will depend on, among other things, is or holds itself out as being engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, trading or holding certain types of securities would be deemed an investment company under the Investment Company Act, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Since we will invest the proceeds held in the trust account, it is possible that we could be deemed an investment company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in trust may be invested by the trustee only in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 180 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, we intend to meet the requirements for the exemption provided in Rule 3a-1 promulgated under the Investment Company Act.

If we are nevertheless deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be subject to certain restrictions that may make it more difficult for us to complete a business combination, including:

restrictions on the nature of our investments; and

restrictions on the issuance of securities.

In addition, we may have imposed upon us certain burdensome requirements, including:

registration as an investment company;

adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and

reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy, compliance policies and procedures and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations.

Compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expense for which we have not allotted.

If we do not conduct an adequate due diligence investigation of a target business, we may be required to subsequently take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring, and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors that our stock price, which could cause youBoard may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to lose some or all of your investment.

We must conduct a due diligence investigation of the target businesses we intend to acquire. Intensive due diligence is time consuming and expensive due to the operations, accounting, finance and legal professionals who must be involved in the due diligence process. Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business, this diligence may not reveal all material issues that may affect a particular target business, and factors outside the control of the target business and outside of our control may later arise. If our diligence fails to identify issues specific to a target business, industry or the environment in which the target business operates, wepay dividends may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even though these charges may be non-cash itemslimited by covenants of any existing and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact thatfuture outstanding indebtedness we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our common stock. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing.


The requirement that we complete an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of our IPO, or by November 19, 2021, may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination.

We have 18 months from the closing of our IPO, or until November 19, 2021, to complete an initial business combination. Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware of this requirement. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete a business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete a business combination with any other target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the time limit referenced above.

We may not obtain a fairness opinion with respect to the target business that we seek to acquire and therefore you may be relying solely on the judgment of our board of directors in approving a proposed business combination.

We will only be required to obtain a fairness opinion with respect to the target business that we seek to acquire if it is an entity that is affiliated with any of our initial stockholders, officers, directors or their affiliates. In all other instances, we will have no obligation to obtain an opinion. Accordingly, stockholders will be relying solely on the judgment of our board of directors in approving a proposed business combination.

Resources could be spent researching acquisitions that are not consummated, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business.

It is anticipated that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting, and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents, and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If a decision is made not to complete a specific business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, even if an agreement is reached relating to a specific target business, we may fail to consummate the business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business.

Compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 will require substantial financial and management resources and may increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls and may require that we have such system of internal controls audited beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2021. If we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, we could be subject to regulatory scrutiny, civil or criminal penalties and/or stockholder litigation. Any inability to provide reliable financial reports could harm our business. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act also requires that our independent registered public accounting firm report on management’s evaluation of our system of internal controls. A target company may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition. Furthermore, any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in the implementation of adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. Inferior internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock.


If we effect a business combination with a company located in a foreign jurisdiction, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.

If we consummate a business combination with a target business in a foreign country, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in the target business’ home jurisdiction, including any of the following:

rules and regulations or currency conversion or corporate withholding taxes on individuals;

tariffs and trade barriers;

regulations related to customs and import/export matters;

longer payment cycles;

tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;

currency fluctuations and exchange controls;

challenges in collecting accounts receivable;

cultural and language differences;

employment regulations;

crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks and wars; and

deterioration of political relations with the United States.

We cannot assure you that we would be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer.

If we effect a business combination with a company located outside of the United States, the laws applicable to such company will likely govern all of our material agreements and we may not be able to enforce our legal rights.

If we effect a business combination with a company located outside of the United States, the laws of the country in which such company operates will govern almost all of the material agreements relating to its operations. We cannot assure you that the target business will be able to enforce any of its material agreements or that remedies will be available in this new jurisdiction. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business, business opportunities or capital. Additionally, if we acquire a company located outside of the United States, it is likely that substantially all of our assets would be located outside of the United States and some of our officers and directors might reside outside of the United States.subsidiaries incur. As a result, ityou may not be possible for stockholdersreceive any return on an investment in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect serviceCommon Stock unless you sell your shares of process upon our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties of our directors and officers under federal securities laws.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law may inhibitCommon Stock for a takeover of us,price greater than that which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the futureyou paid for our common stock and could entrench management.

it.


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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. Our board of directors is divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. As a result, at a given annual meeting only a minority ofdesignates specific courts as the board of directors may be considered for election. Since our “staggered board” may prevent our stockholders from replacing a majority of our board of directors at any given annual meeting, it may entrench management and discourage unsolicited stockholder proposals that may be in the best interests of stockholders. Moreover, our board of directors has the ability to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock.

We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.


Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles or international financial reporting standards, we will not be able to complete a business combination with prospective target businesses unless their financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles or international financial reporting standards.

The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with any tender offer documents we use, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. Additionally, to the extent we furnish our stockholders with financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS, such financial statements will need to be audited in accordance with U.S. GAAP at the time of the consummation of the business combination. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire.

Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, investments and results of operations.

We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we are required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

There may be tax consequences to our business combinations that may adversely affect us.

While we expect to undertake any merger or acquisition so as to minimize taxes both to the acquired business and/or assets and us, such business combination might not meet the statutory requirements of a tax-free reorganization, or the parties might not obtain the intended tax-free treatment upon a transfer of shares or assets. A business combination that does not qualify for tax-free treatment could result in the imposition of substantial taxes.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, subject to limited exceptions, that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for certain stockholder litigation matters, which could limit the ability of our stockholders’ abilitystockholders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers employees or stockholders.

employees.


Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against current or former directors, officers andor other employees for breach of fiduciary duty, and other similar actions, any other action as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction to the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and any action or proceeding concerning the validity of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware (or, if and only if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel except any action (A) as to which the Court of Chancery inof the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction thereof, any state court located in the State of Delaware or, (D) any action arising under the Securities Act, as to which the Court of Chanceryif and only if all such state courts lack subject matter jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware shall have concurrent jurisdiction. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interestDelaware), unless we consent in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consentedwriting to the forum provisions in ourselection of an alternative forum. This provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.

This choiceincorporation also provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the U.S. shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. This provision may limit aour stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any ofand our directors, officers or other employees whichand may discouragehave the effect of discouraging lawsuits with respect to such claims, althoughagainst our directors, officers and other employees. Furthermore, our stockholders will notmay be deemedsubject to have waived our compliance with federal securities lawsincreased costs to bring these claims, and the rulesexclusive forum provision could have the effect of discouraging claims or limiting investors’ ability to bring claims in a judicial forum that they find favorable.


In addition, the enforceability of similar exclusive forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and regulations thereunder and may therefore bring a claimit is possible that, in another appropriate forum. We cannot be certain thatconnection with one or more actions or proceedings described above, a court will decidecould rule that this provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation is either applicableinapplicable or enforceable, and ifunenforceable. In March 2020, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a decision in Salzburg et al. v. Sciabacucchi, which found that an exclusive forum provision providing for claims under the Securities Act to be brought in federal court is facially valid under Delaware law. We intend to enforce this provision, but we do not know whether courts in other jurisdictions will agree with this decision or enforce it. If a court were to find the choice ofexclusive forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating resultsresults.

There is no guarantee that the Warrants will be in the money at the time they become exercisable, and they may expire worthless.

The exercise price for our Warrants is $11.50 per share of Common Stock. There is no guarantee that the Warrants will be in the money following the time they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, and as such, the Warrants may expire worthless.

We may amend the terms of the Warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding Warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your Warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of Common Stock purchasable upon exercise of a Warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.

Our Warrants are issued in registered form under the Warrant Agreement, dated May 19, 2020, (the “Warrant Agreement”), between us and the Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as the warrant agent. The Warrant Agreement provides that the terms of the Warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding Warrants to make any other modifications or amendments. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the Warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then- outstanding Warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the Warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding Warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the Warrants, convert the Warrants into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of Common Stock purchasable upon exercise of a Warrant.

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We may redeem unexpired Public Warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to Warrant holders, thereby making such Warrants worthless.

We have the ability to redeem outstanding Public Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per Public Warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of Common Stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we give proper notice of such redemption and provided certain other conditions are met. If and when the Public Warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding Public Warrants could force you (a) to exercise your Public Warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (b) to sell your Public Warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your Public Warrants or (c) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding Public Warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your Public Warrants.

In addition, we may redeem the Public Warrants after they become exercisable for a number of shares of Common Stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of the Common Stock. Any such redemption may have similar consequences to a cash redemption described above. In addition, such redemption may occur at a time when the Public Warrants are “out- of-the-money,” in which case, you would lose any potential embedded value from a subsequent increase in the value of the Common Stock had your Public Warrants remained outstanding.

You will be diluted by any exercises of outstanding Warrants and outstanding options, settlement of outstanding restricted stock units, and/or the sale and issuance of our Common Stock pursuant to the Purchase Agreement with B. Riley Principal Capital. In addition, we may issue additional shares of Common Stock or other equity securities convertible into Common Stock without your approval, which would dilute your ownership interests and may depress the market price of the Common Stock.

As of December 31, 2021, we had 13,241,717 Warrants, 2,808,482 options, and 6,324,944 restricted stock units outstanding. The exercise of such Warrants or options, and the settlement of such restricted stock units, will result in dilution of your investment and could negatively impact the market price of our Common Stock.

On December 15, 2021, we entered into a common stock purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with B. Riley Principal Capital, LLC (“B. Riley Principal Capital”) pursuant to which B. Riley Principal Capital committed to purchase up to $100 million of our Common Stock, subject to certain limitations and conditions set forth in the Purchase Agreement. See Note 15 - Common Stock to our consolidated financial condition.

statements for additional information. The shares of our Common Stock that may be issued under the Purchase Agreement may be sold by us to B. Riley Principal Capital at our discretion from time to time over an approximately 24-month commencing on the Commencement Date, as defined in the Purchase Agreement. We may ultimately decide to sell all, some, or none of the shares of our Common Stock that may be available for us to sell to B. Riley Principal Capital pursuant to the Purchase Agreement. The purchase price for the shares that we may sell to B. Riley Principal Capital under the Purchase Agreement will fluctuate based on the price of our Common Stock. Depending on market liquidity at the time, sales of such shares may cause the trading price of our Common Stock to fall.


If and when we do sell shares to B. Riley Principal Capital, after B. Riley Principal Capital has acquired the shares, B. Riley Principal Capital may resell all, some, or none of those shares at any time or from time to time in its discretion. Therefore, sales to B. Riley Principal Capital by us could result in substantial dilution to the interests of other holders of our Common Stock. Additionally, the sale of a substantial number of shares of our Common Stock to B. Riley Principal Capital, or the anticipation of such sales, could make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a price that we might otherwise wish to effect sales.

We may also issue additional shares of Common Stock or other equity securities of equal or senior rank in the future in connection with, among other things, future acquisitions or repayment of outstanding indebtedness, without stockholder approval, in a number of circumstances.

The issuance of additional shares or other equity securities of equal or senior rank would have the following effects:

existing stockholders’ proportionate ownership interest in us will decrease;
the amount of cash available per share, including for payment of dividends in the future, may decrease;
the relative voting strength of each previously outstanding share of Common Stock may be diminished; and
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the market price of our Common Stock may decline.

Anti-takeover provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of our company, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our then current management.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may delay or prevent an acquisition our company or a change in our management. These provisions may make it more difficult for stockholders to replace or remove members of our Board. Because the Board is responsible for appointing the members of the management team, these provisions could in turn frustrate or prevent any attempt by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management. In addition, these provisions could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of Common Stock. Among other things, these provisions include:

the limitation of the liability of, and the indemnification of, our directors and officers;
a prohibition on actions by our stockholders except at an annual or special meeting of stockholders;
a prohibition on actions by our stockholders by written consent; and
the ability of the Board to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to institute a “poison pill” that would work to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer, effectively preventing acquisitions that have not been approved by the Board.

Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL, which prohibits a person who owns 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner. This could discourage, delay or prevent a third party from acquiring or merging with us, whether or not we are desired by, or beneficial to, our stockholders. This could also have the effect of discouraging others from making tender offers for the Common Stock, including transactions that may be in our stockholders’ best interests. Finally, these provisions establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to the Board or for proposing matters that can be acted upon at stockholder meetings. These provisions would apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some stockholders.

Our status as a public benefit corporation could make an acquisition of our company, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult.

While Delaware common law, as stated in Revlon, Inc. v. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc., and related cases, may impose upon directors of a traditional corporation a duty to maximize short-term stockholder value in certain “sale of the company” transactions, a public benefit corporation board’s decision-making would not be subject to those same constraints. As a public benefit corporation, our Board would need to take into account interests other than short-term stockholder value when evaluating a sale, and this balancing of interests may result in accepting a bid that may not maximize short-term stockholder value. This does not mean that, as a public benefit corporation, our Board’s balancing of interests would preclude us from accepting a bid that maximizes short-term stockholder value. Rather, our Board would weigh the merits of accepting the short-term value offered by a bid against other options that may generate greater long-term value or have other meaningful effects on those materially affected by our conduct or public benefit purpose and, if appropriate, could accept a bid that does not maximize short-term value. Our Board would also be able to reject a bid in favor of pursuing other stakeholder interests or the specified public benefit, to the detriment of stockholders.

In addition, Article VIII of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we shall not, either directly or indirectly, merge or consolidate with or into another entity if, as a result of such merger or consolidation, our capital stock would become, or be converted into or exchange for the exclusive forumright to receive, shares or other equity interests in a domestic or foreign corporation that is not a public benefit corporation or similar entity and the certificate of incorporation (or similar governing document) of which does not contain identical provisions to Article III of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation identifying the public benefit or public benefits, unless we have obtained, in addition to any affirmative vote required by law or by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2⁄3% of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares our capital stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting as a single class. This provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require us to obtain a super-majority vote in order to merge or consolidate with an entity that is applicablenot a public benefit corporation, which could discourage acquisition offers that may otherwise be beneficial to stockholders.

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General Risk Factors

If we fail to retain and motivate members of our management team or other key employees, our business and future growth prospects would be harmed.

Our success and future growth depend largely upon the continued services of our executive officers as well as other key employees. These executives and key employees have been primarily responsible for determining the strategic direction of the business and executing our growth strategy and are integral to our brand, culture and reputation with distributors and others in the industry. From time to time, there may be changes in our executive management team or other key employees resulting from the hiring or departure of these personnel. The loss of one or more of executive officers, or the failure by the executive team to effectively work with employees and lead the company, could harm our business.


We will continue to incur significant costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will continue to devote substantial time to compliance initiatives.

As a public company, we have incurred and will continue to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses, particularly since we are now a large accelerated filer and are no longer a smaller reporting company after December 31, 2021. As a public company, we are subject to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. Section 27reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits broughtthe Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, as well as rules adopted, and to enforce any duty or liability createdbe adopted, by the ExchangeSEC and Nasdaq. Our management and other personnel need to continue to devote a substantial amount of time to comply with these requirements. Moreover, these rules and regulations have increased, and will continue to increase, our legal and financial compliance costs and make some activities more time- consuming and costly. The increased costs may increase our net loss. For example, these rules and regulations make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits or incur substantially higher costs to maintain the same or similar coverage as we did prior to becoming a public company. These rules and regulations are often subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in future uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. The impact of these requirements could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board, our board committees or as our executive officers.

Changes in tax laws may materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.

New income, sales, use or other tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be enacted at any time, which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Further, existing tax laws, statutes, rules, regulations or ordinances could be interpreted, changed, modified or applied adversely to us. For example, U.S. federal tax legislation enacted in 2017, informally titled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), enacted many significant changes to the U.S. tax laws. Future guidance from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) with respect to the Tax Act may affect us, and certain aspects of the Tax Act could be repealed or modified in future legislation. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) has already modified certain provisions of the Tax Act. In addition, under the current U.S. presidential administration and in certain proposals under consideration in Congress (which have not yet been enacted), comprehensive federal income tax reform has been proposed, including an increase in the U.S. Federal corporate income tax rate, elimination of certain investment incentives, and a more than doubling of U.S. residual taxation of non-U.S. earnings. While these proposals are likely to change during the legislative process if enacted at all, their impact could nonetheless be significant. Such tax law changes could have a material adverse impact on us. In addition, it is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act, the CARES Act or any newly enacted federal tax legislation.

While it is too early to assess the overall impact of these potential changes, as these and other tax laws and related regulations are revised, enacted, and implemented, our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could have a material adverse impact.

Our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes may be limited in connection with the business combination or other ownership changes.

We have incurred losses during our history and do not expect to become profitable in the near future, and may never achieve profitability. To the extent that we continue to generate taxable losses, unused losses will carry forward to offset future
39


taxable income, if any, until such unused losses expire, if at all. As of December 31, 2021, we had U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $118.0 million.
Under the Tax Act, as modified by the CARES Act, U.S. federal net operating loss carryforwards generated in taxable periods beginning after December 31, 2017, may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such net operating loss carryforwards in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2020, is limited to 80% of taxable income. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the Tax Act or the CARES Act.

In addition, our net operating loss carryforwards are subject to review and possible adjustment by the IRS, and state tax authorities. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), our federal net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes may become subject to an annual limitation in the event of certain cumulative changes in our ownership. An “ownership change” pursuant to Section 382 of the Code generally occurs if one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who own at least 5% of a company’s stock increase their ownership by more than
50 percentage points over their lowest ownership percentage within a rolling three-year period. Our ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards and other tax attributes to offset future taxable income or tax liabilities may be limited as a result of ownership changes, including potential changes in connection with the business combination or other transactions. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. If we earn taxable income, such limitations could result in increased future income tax liability to us and regulations thereunder. our future cash flows could be adversely affected. We have recorded a valuation allowance related to our net operating loss carryforwards and other deferred tax assets due to the uncertainty of the ultimate realization of the future benefits of those assets.

As a public company, we are obligated to develop and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting and any failure to maintain the adequacy of these internal controls may adversely affect investor confidence in our company and, as a result, the exclusive forum provisionvalue of shares of our common stock.

Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (“Section 404”), we are required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting, including an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. To maintain compliance with Section 404, we engage in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. In this regard, we will not applyneed to suits broughtcontinue to enforcededicate internal resources, engage outside consultants and refine and revise a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes as appropriate, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting. Despite our efforts, there is a risk that neither we nor our independent registered public accounting firm will be able to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as required by Section 404.

If we are unable to conclude that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm determines we have a material weakness or significant deficiency in our internal controls over financial reporting, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of shares of our common stock could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by Nasdaq, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Failure to remedy any dutymaterial weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting, or liability created byto implement or maintain other effective control systems required of public companies, could also negatively impact our ability to access to the Exchange Actcapital markets.

In addition, effective disclosure controls and procedures enable us to make timely and accurate disclosure of financial and non-financial information that we are required to disclose. As a public company, if our disclosure controls and procedures are ineffective, we may be unable to report our financial results or anymake other claim fordisclosures accurately on a timely basis, which could cause our reported financial results or other disclosures to be materially misstated and result in the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.

loss of investor confidence and cause the market price of shares of our common stock to decline.


Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

Comments


None.


Item 2. Properties.

We currently maintain our principal executiveProperties


The Company has corporate offices at 8556 Oakmont Lane, Indianapolis, IN 46260 whichin Lexington, Kentucky, CEA facilities in Kentucky and a research and development facility in Massachusetts.

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As of December 31, 2021, the Company had the following facilities:

TypeLocationOwned/Leased
Approximate Size1
Notes
Corporate officesLexington, KentuckyLeased22,000 sqft
Morehead CEA facilityMorehead, KentuckyOwned366 acresCEA facility is fully operational
Berea salad greens facilityBerea, KentuckyOwned40 acresApproximately 68% complete
Richmond tomato facilityRichmond, KentuckyOwned252 acresApproximately 65% complete
Somerset facilitySomerset, KentuckyOwned173 acresApproximately 55% complete
Morehead salad green facilityMorehead, KentuckyOwned200 acresDevelopment paused
AppHarvest Technology, Inc.Burlington, MassachusettsLeased20,000 sqft

1For CEA facilities this is provided to us by Robert J. Laikin, our Chairman, for no fee. We consider our current office space, combined with the other office space otherwise available to our executive officers, adequate for our current operations.

land parcel size and not the size of the greenhouse



Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

Proceedings

We are not currently subject to any materialvarious legal proceedings nor, to our knowledge, is any material legal proceeding threatened against us or anyand claims that arise in the ordinary course of our officersbusiness. Although the outcome of these and other claims cannot be predicted with certainty, we do not believe the ultimate resolution of the current matters will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or directorscash flows. However, depending on the nature and timing of a given dispute, an unfavorable resolution could materially affect our current or future results of operations or cash flows. For a description of our legal proceedings, see Note 11 - Commitments and Contingencies of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in their corporate capacity.

this Annual Report.



Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.


None.

PARTDisclosures


Not applicable.

41



Part II

Part II.

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Market Information.


Our units, common stock and warrants are traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the symbols “NOVSU”, “NOVS”“APPH” and “NOVSW”“APPHW”, respectively.


Holders

Although there are a larger number of beneficial owners, atCommon Stock


As of December 31, 2020, there was 1 holder2021, we had 140 holders of record of our units, 42common stock and 21 holders of record of our separately traded common stock and 25warrants. This number does not reflect the beneficial holders of recordour securities who hold shares in street name through brokerage accounts or other nominees. Information required by Item 201(d) of our separately traded warrants.

Regulation S-K can be found in Part III, Item 12 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.


Dividends


We have notnever declared or paid any cash dividends on our sharescommon stock. For the foreseeable future, we intend to retain any earnings to finance the development and expansion of common stock to dateour business, and we do not intendanticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock. Any future determination to pay cash dividends prior towill be at the completiondiscretion of our initial business combination. The paymentthe Board of cash dividends in the futureDirectors and will be dependent upon then existing conditions, including our revenuesfinancial condition and earnings, if any,results of operations, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, business prospects and general financial condition subsequent to completionother factors that the Board of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any share dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

None.

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Directors considers relevant.


Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; UseSecurities

In December 2021, we entered into the Purchase Agreement with B. Riley Principal Capital, pursuant to which we have a right to sell to B. Riley Principal Capital, up to the lesser of Proceeds(i) $100 million of newly issued shares of our Common Stock and (ii) Exchange Cap, which is 20,143,404 shares of Common Stock, from Registered Offerings

In March 2020, we issued an aggregatetime to time during the two-year term of 2,875,000 common stockthe purchase agreement. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources.”


Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Period
(a) Total Number of Shares Purchased1
(b) Average Price Paid per Share(c) Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs(d) Maximum Number of Shares that May Yet be Purchased under the Plans or Programs
10/01/2021-10/31/202117,573 $5.53 — — 
11/01/2021-11/30/20213,670 5.71 — — 
12/01/2021-12/31/2021123,589 5.25 — — 

1A total of 144,832 shares of Common Stock were repurchased in the fourth quarter of 2021 related to our initial stockholders for an aggregate purchase price of  $25,000, or approximately $0.01 per share,shares withheld to satisfy employee tax withholding obligations in connectionassociation with the Company’s organization pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2)vesting of the Securities Act. Of these shares, 375,000restricted stock units. These shares were forfeited and returned to us for no consideration.

In March 2020, we issued an aggregate of 150,000 shares to designees of EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Actnot repurchased as the shares were issued to accredited investors. The shares issued were issued with a value of $0.0001 per share.

Simultaneous with the consummation of the IPO, our initial stockholders and EarlyBirdCapital consummated the private placement of an aggregate of 3,250,000 warrants at a price of $1.00 per private warrant. Each private warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share. The issuance was made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.

The private warrants are identical to the warrants underlying the units sold in the IPO, except that the private warrants are not transferable, assignable or salable until after the completionpart of a business combination, subject to certain limited exceptions.

Of the gross proceeds received from the IPO and the private warrants, $100,000,000 was placed in the trust account.

We paid a total of $2,000,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions and $456,726 for other costs and expenses related to the IPO.

publicly announced plan or program.



Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

Not required for a smaller reporting company.

[Reserved]

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

References to the “Company,” “our,” “us” or “we” refer to Novus Capital Corporation. Operations

The following discussion and analysis of the Company’sour financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with theour financial statements and therelated notes thereto contained elsewhere in this report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Exchange Act that are not historical facts and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected and projected. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this Annual Report on Form 10KQ10-K.

Overview
We were founded on January 19, 2018. Together with our subsidiaries, we are an applied agricultural technology company in Appalachia developing and operating some of the world’s largest high-tech indoor farms, which are designed to grow non-GMO produce, free of or with minimal chemical pesticide residues, use primarily rainwater, and produce significantly higher
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yields than those yields achieved by traditional agriculture on the same amount of land. We combine conventional agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology, including without limitation, statementsartificial intelligence and robotics, to improve access to nutritious food, farming more sustainably, building a domestic food supply, and increasing investment in Appalachia.

Prior to October 2020, our operations were limited to the “start-up” concerns of organizing and staffing, business planning, raising capital, and acquiring and developing properties for CEA. In October 2020, we partially opened our first CEA facility in Morehead, Kentucky (the “Morehead CEA facility”), which we estimate can cultivate approximately 720,000 tomato plants with an approximate yield of 40 million pounds per year. We harvested our first crop of beefsteak tomatoes and tomatoes on the vine in January 2021 and March 2021, respectively. In May 2021, we opened production of the full 60 acres at the Morehead CEA facility and, in August 2021, concluded the first harvest. We completed planting of our second crop at the Morehead CEA facility in September 2021, and began harvest of the crop in the fourth quarter of 2021.

We have begun construction of four more CEA facilities, including those located in Berea, Kentucky (the “Berea salad greens facility”) and Richmond, Kentucky (the “Richmond tomato facility”). As of the date hereof, construction on the Berea salad greens facility is approximately 68% complete; the Richmond tomato facility is approximately 65% complete. Both CEA facilities are expected to be fully operational by the end of 2022. Groundbreakings for two more CEA facilities occurred in June 2021 in Somerset, Kentucky (the “Somerset facility”) and Morehead, Kentucky (the “Morehead salad green facility”). The Somerset facility is intended to grow berries, and the Morehead salad green facility, which is located adjacent to the Morehead CEA facility, is intended to grow salad greens. The Somerset facility is approximately 55% complete and expected to be operational by the end of 2022. To incorporate design and other insights we gained from construction of the Berea salad greens facility, and to maintain flexibility in the allocation of capital resources, we have temporarily paused development of the Morehead salad green facility, with construction now expected to resume in 2022 and be operational in 2023. We expect to have four CEA facilities operational by the end of 2022, with approximately 165 acres under production. We expect to develop additional CEA facilities only after obtaining the necessary capital, assuming, among other things, that we are able to obtain necessary capital when needed and on acceptable terms. For a discussion of our future funding requirements, please refer to the section titled “Risk Factors,” “We will require significant additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, may force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our operations and future growth.”

In April 2021, we acquired Root AI, Inc. (“Root AI”) (now AppHarvest Technology, Inc.) (the “Root AI Acquisition”), an artificial intelligence and robotics company, including their team with experience in CEA next generation technology. The acquisition of Root AI is expected to provide us with a baseline for harvesting support while helping evaluate crop health, predict yield, and optimize overall operations in existing CEA facilities. The benefits include fully developed technology, in the form of software and hardware, that can be programmed for utilization and optimization and a skilled workforce to assist with ongoing upgrades of the artificial intelligence. With the Root AI Acquisition, we are developing CEA technology solutions for internal use and also for potential sale to customers in the global CEA industry.

The Company is organized as a single operating segment. Substantially all of the assets and operations of the Company are located in the United States.

Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”)

AppHarvest is both a public benefit corporation (“PBC”) and a certified B Corporation because we believe in collective benefit over individual gain. We believe growing healthy fruits and vegetables are good business, and new technologies can deliver cleaner produce with safer growing methods, which we believe benefits all stakeholders. We are all in this “Management’s Discussiontogether, for good.

Public benefit corporations are for-profit corporations and, Analysisunder Delaware law, our directors have a duty to balance the financial interests of stockholders, the best interests of those materially affected by our conduct (including our stockholders, employees, communities, customers and suppliers), and the specific public benefits identified in our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “amended and restated certificate of incorporation”) when making decisions. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation includes three specific public benefit goals:

Goal 1 Drive positive environmental change in agriculture
•    Goal 2 Empower individuals in Appalachia
•    Goal 3 Improve the lives of our employees and the communities in which we operate

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In early 2021, we launched our first Materiality Assessment with Business for Social Responsibility (“BSR”) to further assess which ESG issues are most important to AppHarvest’s stakeholders and our business success. Our stakeholders include farmers, employees, regional economic development organizations, retailers, sustainability experts at BSR, suppliers, local communities, and our internal senior management and Board members.

While our PBC charter-specific goals broadly relate to our corporate purpose and inform all other ESG efforts, our materiality assessment (which also incorporates Sustainability Accounting Standards Board standards, now the Value Reporting Foundation) and B Corporation assessment will inform our specific ESG strategies. Our ESG key performance indicators (“KPIs”) will align with our material issues to measure our progress. Our first full year of operations ending on December 31, 2021 will serve as our baseline year for reporting ESG KPIs.

More information on our key ESG programs, goals and commitments, and key metrics can be found in our 2020 sustainability report, which is available on our website https://www.appharvest.com/. Website references throughout this document are provided for convenience only, and the content on the referenced websites is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report.

While we believe all of our ESG goals align with our long-term growth strategy and financial and operational priorities, they are aspirational and may change, and there is no guarantee or promise that they will be met or that they will not hinder financial or operational performance.
Morehead Facility
On April 15, 2019, we entered into a mortgage loan with Equilibrium Controlled Environment Foods Fund, LLC (together with its affiliates, “Equilibrium”) to finance our purchase of land from a third party in Morehead, Kentucky (the “Morehead Land”). The loan had a principal balance of $3.5 million and bore interest at 8.00% per year.
On May 13, 2019, the Company entered a series of agreements with Equilibrium, resulting in the sale of the legal entity that was established to purchase the Morehead Land. The net assets of the entity sold to Equilibrium included the land, related permitting and the mortgage note owed to Equilibrium. On that same date, the Company also entered into a Master Lease Agreement (the “Master Lease Agreement”) with Morehead Farm LLC (“Morehead Farm”) for an indoor controlled agriculture facility on a portion of the Morehead Land (the “Morehead CEA Facility”). The Master Lease Agreement had an initial term of 20 years commencing at substantial completion of construction and included a ground lease for the Morehead Land. In October 2020, the Company took occupancy of the completed portion of the Morehead Facility, resulting in lease commencement under the Master Lease Agreement. Lease payments under the Master Lease Agreement consisted of a base rent calculated as a percentage of defined construction costs, certain non-lease costs and rent based on gross revenues generated from the Morehead Facility. Equilibrium maintains an option to sell, and the Company is required to purchase, any excess land not otherwise utilized by the construction of the Morehead Facility at a price equal to the original cost of acquisition. During the term of the Master Lease Agreement, the Company has a right of first refusal to purchase the Morehead Land. The Company has accounted for the transfer of the Morehead Land to Equilibrium in 2019 as a financing transaction.
On March 1, 2021, we closed on the Membership Interest Purchase and Sale Agreement with Equilibrium that we entered into in December 2020, pursuant to which we purchased from Equilibrium 100% of the membership interests in Morehead Farm (the “Membership Interest Purchase and Sale Agreement”). The purchase price for Morehead Farm was approximately $125 million, which was equal to a multiple of Equilibrium’s cost to acquire, develop and construct the Morehead facility. At closing, Morehead Farm, a subsidiary of Equilibrium that owns the Morehead facility, became our wholly owned subsidiary. Concurrent with the closing of the Membership Interest Purchase and Sale Agreement, the Master Lease Agreement and ancillary agreements related thereto, were terminated. As a result, the closing date balances of $66.5 million for the financing obligation related to construction in progress assets and $58.8 million for the finance lease liability related to the completed portion of the Morehead CEA facility were settled and de-recognized from our consolidated balance sheet.

On May 12, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement with Equilibrium, a related party, at that time, to finance the purchase of equipment to be used in the Company’s operations in Morehead, Kentucky. The loan agreement had an original principal balance of $2.0 million and an interest rate of 9.5% per year. Upon establishment of the finance lease liability for the Morehead CEA facility lease in October, 2020, the principal balance of the loan was extinguished and added to the future base rent calculation to be paid over the term of the lease liability, which was settled and de-recognized as described above. The original proceeds from the loan are included in the financing section of the statement of cash flows as of December 31, 2020.
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Factors Affecting Our Financial Condition and Results of Operations” regardingOperations
We have expended, and expect to continue to expend, substantial resources as we:
continue the build-out of the four CEA facilities currently under construction in Richmond, Berea, Somerset and Morehead, Kentucky and invest in additional CEA facilities in the future;

continue our current growing season, which began in August 2021, and plant and harvest new crops in our future growing seasons;
implement the Purchase and Marketing Agreement with Mastronardi Produce Limited (“Mastronardi”) and fulfill our obligations under that agreement;
identify and invest in future growth opportunities, including new or expanded facilities and new product lines;
invest in sales and marketing efforts to increase brand awareness, engage customers and drive sales of our products;
invest in product innovation and development, including our acquisition of Root AI’s technologies in April 2021; and
incur additional general and administrative expenses, including increased finance, legal and accounting expenses, associated with being a public company and expanding operations.
Business Combination and Public Company Costs
On January 29, 2021, Novus Capital Corporation (“Novus”), a special purpose acquisition company, consummated the business combination agreement and plan of reorganization (the “Business Combination Agreement” and the transactions contemplated thereby, the “Business Combination”) dated September 2020, by and among ORGA, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Novus (“Merger Sub”), and AppHarvest Operations, Inc., a Delaware corporation (f/k/a AppHarvest, Inc.) (“Legacy AppHarvest”), pursuant to which Legacy AppHarvest was merged with and into Merger Sub, with Legacy AppHarvest surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novus. On the closing date, Novus changed its name to AppHarvest, Inc.

While the legal acquirer in the Business Combination Agreement was AppHarvest, Inc. (formerly Novus), for financial accounting and reporting purposes under United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), Legacy AppHarvest was the accounting acquirer as the Business Combination was accounted for as a “reverse recapitalization.” A reverse recapitalization (i.e., a capital transaction involving the issuance of stock by AppHarvest, Inc. (formerly Novus), for the stock of Legacy AppHarvest) did not result in a new basis of accounting, and the consolidated financial statements of the combined entity represent the continuation of the consolidated financial statements of Legacy AppHarvest. Accordingly, the consolidated assets, liabilities and results of operations of Legacy AppHarvest became the historical consolidated financial statements of the combined company. Operations prior to the Business Combination are presented as those of Legacy AppHarvest. The net assets of AppHarvest, Inc. were recognized at historical cost (which was consistent with carrying value), with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded upon execution of the Business Combination.

Upon consummation of the Business Combination and the closing of the concurrent private placement of the 37,500 shares of the Company’s Common Stock (the “PIPE”), the most significant change in our reported financial position business strategy and the plansresults of operations was an increase in cash and objectivescash equivalents (as compared to Legacy AppHarvest’s consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2020) of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predicts,” “project,” “shall,” “should,” “would and variations and similar words and expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance, but reflect management’s current beliefs, based on information currently available. A number of factors could cause actual events, performance or results to differ materiallyapproximately $435.2 million, including $375.0 million in gross proceeds from the events, performance and results discussed in the forward-looking statements. For information identifying important factors relating to the Merger, please refer to the Risk Factors section of the Registration Statement on Form S-4, as amended, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The Company’s securities filings can be accessed on the EDGAR section of the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

PIPE.


Overview

We are a blank check company formed under the laws of the State of Delaware on March 5, 2020 for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more target businesses (a “Business Combination”). Although we may pursue an initial business combination in any industry or geographic location, we currently intend to focus on opportunities to capitalize on the ability of our management team to identify, acquire and drive the operations of the business in the smart technology innovations market. Specifically, we intend to target smart technology innovation companies that are at the forefront of high technology and are enabling the future evolution of 5G communication, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, machine learning and hardware and software distribution and value-added customized logistics services. We intend to effectuate our business combination using cash from the proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, stock and debt.

Proposed Business Combination

Business Combination Agreement

On September 28, 2020, we entered into the Business Combination Agreementa convertible promissory note with Merger Sub and AppHarvest, pursuant to which we will affect the proposed business combination.

Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, at Closing, AppHarvest will be merged with and into Merger Sub, with AppHarvest surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of us. At the Effective Time, by virtue of the Merger and without any action on the part of Novus, Merger Sub, AppHarvest or the holders of any of AppHarvest’s securities:

all of the then issued and outstanding shares of AppHarvest common stock (expressed on a fully diluted basis) will be cancelled and automatically convert into up to 50,000,000 shares of our common stock;

all shares of AppHarvest common stock and AppHarvest preferred stock held in the treasury of AppHarvest shall be canceled without any conversion thereof and no payment or distribution shall be made with respect thereto;

• each share of Merger Sub common stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time shall be converted into and exchanged for one validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable share of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, of the surviving corporation; and

no certificates or scrip or shares representing fractional shares of our common stock shall be issued upon the exchange of AppHarvest common stock and such fractional share interests will not entitle the owner thereof to vote or to have any rights of a stockholder of Novus or a holder of shares of our common stock. In lieu of any fractional share of our common stock to which each holder of AppHarvest common stock would otherwise be entitled, the fractional share shall be rounded up or down to the nearest whole share of our common stock, with a fraction of 0.5 rounded up. No cash settlements shall be made with respect to fractional shares eliminated by rounding.

Additionally, at the Closing, an aggregate of 37,500,000 shares of our common stock will be issued in connection with the PIPE.

The Closing is subject to certain conditions, including but not limited to the approval of our stockholders and AppHarvest’s stockholders of the Business Combination Agreement. The Business Combination Agreement may also be terminated by either party under certain circumstances.

The Closing will occur as promptly as practicable, but in no event later than three business days following the satisfaction or waiver of all of the closing conditions contained in the Business Combination Agreement.


Lock-Up Agreements

At the Closing, the Novus initial stockholders and certain stockholders of AppHarvest will enter into Lock-up Agreements pursuant to which up of (i) 50% of the shares held by such holders upon the Closing (which may be Escrow Shares with respect to the Novus initial stockholders) will be locked up for a period of one year following the Closing Date; provided, that, if the closing price of the combined company following the Merger (the “Combined Company”) common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 180 days after the Closing Date, the shares will be released from the lock-up regardless of whether a period of one year has passed from the Closing Date and (ii) with respect to the remaining 50% of such shares of the Combined Company common stock, until one year after the Closing Date, or earlier, in either case, if, upon the closing of a subsequent transaction.

Registration Rights Agreement

In connection with the Closing, Novus’ existing registration rights agreement will be amended and restated to: (i) provide that the Combined Company will file a registration statement within 30 days following the Closing to register for resale (A) the founder shares, private warrants and shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of the private warrants held by the founders and (B) the shares of the Combined Company common stock to be issued to AppHarvest’s stockholders in the proposed business combination; (ii) provide AppHarvest’s stockholders with three (3) demand registration rights, (iii) provide the AppHarvest stockholders and the founders customary underwritten takedown rights (subject to customary priorities, minimums, frequency, and quantity limits, cutbacks, deferrals and other terms); and (iv) afford each of AppHarvest’s stockholders and the founders, on a pari passu basis, “piggy back” registration rights with respect to an unlimited number of underwritten offerings by the other stockholders and by the Combined Company. Following the Closing, holders of approximately 45.3 million shares of our common stock (including up to 3,250,000 shares issuable upon the exercise of private warrants) will be entitled to these registration rights. The sale or possibility of sale of these additional securities trading in the public market may negatively impact the market price of the Combined Company’s securities.

Subscription Agreements

In connection with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, on September 28, 2020, Novus entered into separate Subscription Agreements with the subscribers, pursuant to which the subscribers agreed to purchase, and Novus agreed to sell to the subscribers, the PIPE Shares for a purchase price of $10.00 per share and an aggregate purchase price of $375.0 million, in the PIPE. In connection with the PIPE, certain of the founders and their affiliates agreed to purchase an aggregate of 1,430,000 shares of our common stock and Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P. agreed, a related party, to finance capital investments and operating needs with a principal balance of $30.0 million. Upon completion of the Business Combination, the outstanding principal and unpaid accrued interest due on the convertible note was converted into an aggregate of 3.2 million shares of Common Stock in accordance with the terms of the agreement terms, and such converted convertible note was no longer outstanding and ceased to exist, and any liens securing obligations under the convertible note were released.


As a consequence of the Business Combination, we became the successor to an SEC-registered and Nasdaq-listed company, which requires us to hire additional personnel and implement procedures and processes to address public company regulatory requirements and customary practices. During 2021, we incurred additional annual expenses as a public company
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for, among other things, directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, director fees and additional internal and external accounting, legal and administrative resources, including increased audit and legal fees.
Key Components of Statement of Operations

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, we use certain non-GAAP measures, such as Adjusted EBITDA, to understand and evaluate our core operating performance. We define and calculate Adjusted EBITDA as net loss before the impact of interest income or expense, income tax expense or benefit, depreciation and amortization, adjusted to exclude: goodwill and intangible impairment expense, stock-based compensation expense, Business Combination transaction-related costs, reorganization costs, remeasurement of warrant liabilities, Root AI Acquisition related costs and certain other non-core items. We believe this non-GAAP measure of financial results provides useful information to management and investors regarding certain financial and business trends relating to our financial condition and results of operations. Our management uses this non-GAAP measure for trend analyses and for budgeting and planning purposes.

We believe that the use of this non-GAAP financial measure provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating operating results and trends. Other similar companies may present different non-GAAP measures or calculate similar non-GAAP measures differently. Management does not consider this non-GAAP measure in isolation or as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. The principal limitation of this non-GAAP financial measure is that it excludes significant expenses that are required to be presented in our GAAP financial statements. Because of this limitation, you should consider Adjusted EBITDA alongside other financial performance measures, including net loss and our other financial results presented in accordance with GAAP.

Net sales

Prior to the year ended December 31, 2021, we had not yet generated sales. Substantially all of our net sales in 2021 are generated from the sale of tomatoes under an agreement with one customer, Mastronardi. Net sales include revenues earned from the sale of our products, less commissions, shipping, distribution and other costs incurred as defined in our customers agreement.

Cost of Goods Sold

Prior to the year ended December 31, 2021, we had not incurred cost of goods sold as we did not have operations prior to this period. Cost of goods sold (COGS) consists of expenses incurred related to the production of inventory sold to customers.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) consist of payroll and payroll related expenses, stock-based compensation, professional services and legal fees, licenses and registration fees, insurance, depreciation, rent and various other personnel and office related costs. SG&A also includes start-up expenses related to pre-commencement commercial activities for tomatoes on the vine at the Morehead CEA facility.

Goodwill and Intangible Impairment

During the year ended December 31, 2021, we recorded goodwill impairment expense and other intangible impairment expense of $59.9 million, for a non-cash charge of $59.7 million, net of tax of $0.2 million, to fully impair the carrying value of goodwill and definite lived intangible assets included in our acquisition of Root AI. The impairment reflects current market valuations and strategic investment requirements as we continue to develop commercial technologies through AppHarvest Technology, Inc.

Interest Expense

Interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2021 primarily relates to long-term debt to help finance the construction of our CEA facilities and has been capitalized as a component of the cost of those facilities. Interest expense from related parties for the year ended December 31, 2020 primarily relates to the finance lease and financing obligation for the Morehead CEA facility which were settled upon purchase 2,000,000of Morehead Farm on March 1, 2021 and the convertible note that was
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converted to Common Stock upon completion of the Business Combination on January 29, 2021. See Note 9 - Note Payable with a Related Party and Note 10 - Debt to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Results of Operations
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
The following table sets forth our historical operating results for the periods indicated:
Year Ended December 31,
 20212020$ Change
(Dollars in thousands)
Net sales$9,050 $— $9,050 
Cost of goods sold41,938 — 41,938 
(32,888)— (32,888)
Operating expenses:
Selling, general and administrative expenses107,245 16,471 90,774 
Goodwill and other intangible asset impairment59,901 — 59,901 
Total operating expenses:167,146 16,471 150,675 
Loss from operations(200,034)(16,471)(183,563)
Other income (expense):
Development fee income from a related party— 406 (406)
Interest expense from related parties(658)(1,423)765 
Change in fair value of Private Warrants35,047 — 35,047 
Other448 49 399 
Loss before income taxes(165,197)(17,439)(147,758)
Income tax expense(989)(9)(980)
Net loss$(166,186)$(17,448)$(148,738)
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Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP
The following table presents a reconciliation of net loss, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP to Adjusted EBITDA:

Year Ended December 31,
 20212020$ Change
(Dollars in thousands)
Net loss$(166,186)$(17,448)$(148,738)
Interest expense from related parties658 — 658 
Interest income(277)(31)(246)
Income tax expense989 980 
Depreciation and amortization expense10,794 176 10,618 
EBITDA(154,022)(17,294)(136,728)
Goodwill and other intangible asset impairment59,901 — 59,901 
Change in fair value of Private Warrants(35,047)— (35,047)
Stock-based compensation expense40,910 154 40,756 
Issuance of common stock for commitment shares1,006 — 1,006 
Transaction success bonus on completion of Business Combination1,500 — 1,500 
Reorganization costs946 — 946 
Business Combination transaction costs13,883 — 13,883 
Root AI Acquisition costs1,032 — 1,032 
Adjusted EBITDA$(69,891)$(17,140)$(52,751)


The following sections discuss and analyze the changes in the significant line items in our Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020.
Net Sales
Net sales for the year ended December 31, 2021 were $9.1 million for 18.3 million pounds of tomatoes, compared to $0.0 million for the prior year, with the increase due to the sale of tomatoes produced in the abbreviated first growing season at our Morehead CEA facility, which concluded in August 2021, and the sale of tomatoes from the second crop, which we began harvesting in October 2021. Net sales for the year ended December 31, 2021 were adversely impacted by labor and productivity investments associated with the training and development of the new workforce at the Morehead CEA facility and low market prices for tomatoes through the end of the first harvest, which rebounded in the fourth quarter. Full year 2021 sales also reflect the lack of production during the tear-out of the first season crop, annual clean-up of the Morehead CEA facility, and planting of the second crop, which began harvesting in October 2021. The labor and productivity challenges resulted in lower than expected net sales due to lower overall No. 1-grade production yields, including the impact of higher related distribution and shipping fees. We have implemented a data-driven approach, leveraging performance management to drive accountability, to enhance our training programs to improve productivity, and to implement a new supply chain process. While we have seen and expect continuous improvement in our overall No. 1-grade production due to these operational improvements, we continue with mitigation efforts related to the occurrence of plant disease, which has required the removal of certain plants resulting in shortened growing periods, as well as modifications to operational practices. We estimate that these mitigations efforts could lower our yields at the Morehead CEA facility in the range of 10% to 15% of our initial internal projections for full year 2022 results.

Cost of Goods Sold

COGS for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $41.9 million compared to $0.0 million for the prior year. COGS includes the inventory production costs incurred for labor, overhead and materials as we ramped up production at our Morehead CEA facility through the first and second growing seasons in 2021. COGS was negatively impacted by labor and productivity investments associated with the training and development of the new workforce at the Morehead CEA facility, costs associated with the summer refresh and planting of the second crop as described above, and tightening of availability of local labor.
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Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses
SG&A for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $107.2 million compared to $16.5 million for the prior year. The $90.8 million increase was primarily due to stock-based compensation expense, payroll and related costs due to a higher headcount, transaction costs related to the Business Combination, including a one-time charge due to the completion of the Business Combination, and professional services and legal fees including accounting and other consulting fees related to becoming a public company and the Root AI Acquisition. These costs also include approximately $1.0 million of start-up costs related to the pre-commencement commercial activities for tomatoes on the vine at the Morehead CEA Facility. We expect that the restructuring plan initiated in the first quarter of 2022 will decrease our annualized SG&A by approximately $16 million.

Goodwill and Intangible Asset Impairment

During the year ended December 31, 2021 we recorded a non-cash charge of $59.7 million, net of tax of $0.2 million, to fully impair the carrying value of goodwill and definite-lived intangible assets included in the acquisition of Root AI. The impairment reflects current market valuations and strategic investment requirements as we continue to develop commercial technologies through AppHarvest Technology, Inc.

Interest Expense

Interest expense for the year ended December 31, 2021 was incurred on long-term debt used to help finance the construction of our CEA facilities and has been capitalized as a component of the cost of those facilities. Interest expense from related parties for the year-ended December 31, 2020 primarily relates to the finance lease and financing obligation for the Morehead CEA facility which were settled upon purchase of Morehead Farm on March 1, 2021, and the convertible note that was converted to Common Stock upon completion of the Business Combination on January 29, 2021. See Note 9 - Note Payable with a Related Party and Note 10 - Debt to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Income Taxes
Our effective income tax rate was (0.6)% for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to (0.1)% for the year ended December 31, 2020. The variance from the U.S. federal statutory rate of 21% for the year ended December 31, 2021 was primarily attributable to a change in our valuation allowance related to our net operating loss carryforwards, non-deductible goodwill and intangible asset impairment expense and stock-based compensation expense, offset by the non-taxable change in the private warrant valuation. There was minimal income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2020 as the company had not started generating any revenues.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Cash and cash equivalents totaled $150.8 million and $21.9 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Currently, our primary sources of liquidity are cash flows generated from the successful completion of the Business Combination, the proceeds from debt and equity financings and revenues from the sale of our tomatoes. We have incurred losses and generated negative cash flows from operations since our inception in 2018. We expect to continue to incur losses and negative cash flows from operating expenses for the foreseeable future as we ramp up operations and production at our new CEA facilities. At December 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $187.3 million.

We expect that the restructuring initiatives, which were implemented in the first quarter of 2022, will increase our liquidity by reducing our annualized SG&A expenses by approximately $16 million.

Funding Capacity

On June 15, 2021, we entered into a master credit agreement, as amended, with Rabo AgriFinance LLC (the “Lender”) for a real estate term loan in the principal amount of $75.0 million (the “Rabo Loan”). The collateral securing the payment and performance of the obligations under this Rabo Loan consists of a perfected first priority lien on, and security interest in, our Morehead CEA facility, together with associated personal property and fixtures. The Rabo Loan matures on April 1, 2031, with quarterly interest payments commencing on July 1, 2021 and quarterly principal payments, commencing on January 1, 2022, with the remaining balance of principal and interest due upon maturity. Payments are based on one month LIBOR plus 2.500% per annum, subject to adjustment on July 1, 2023 and at the end of each successive two year period. On March 5, 2021, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, confirmed that the publication of most LIBOR term rates will end on June 30, 2023 (excluding 1-week U.S. LIBOR and 2-month U.S. LIBOR, the publication of which will end on
49


December 31, 2021). The Rabo Loan provides that in the event the Lender is unable to determine the applicable LIBOR rate, the Rabo Loan will otherwise bear interest at a rate, per annum, equal to a rate determined by the Lender in the Lender’s reasonable discretion. Management does not believe the anticipated discontinuation will have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.

On June 21, 2021, we entered into an interest rate swap with an affiliate of the Lender to make a series of payments based on a fixed rate of 1.602% and receive a series of payments based on LIBOR. Both the fixed and floating payment streams are based on the initial notional amount of $75.0 million and require quarterly payments under a twenty year amortization schedule.

On July 23, 2021, we entered into a credit agreement with CEFF II AppHarvest Holdings, LLC, an affiliate of Equilibrium for a construction loan in the original principal amount of $91.0 million (the “Construction Loan”) for the development of a CEA facility at our property in Richmond, Kentucky (the “Project”). The Construction Loan provides monthly disbursements to fund capital costs of the Project in excess of our required equity contribution of 34.5% of the capital costs of the Project. The Construction Loan requires monthly interest payments based on drawn capital at an initial interest rate of 8.000% per annum, which will increase by 0.2% per annum, beginning two years after closing of the Construction Loan through maturity, which is expected to be July 23, 2024, with no required principal payments until maturity. As of December 31, 2021, we had $31.9 million outstanding on the Construction Loan.

On September 27, 2021, we entered into a promissory note with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (the “Bank”), providing for a line of credit facility up to $25.0 million (the “JPM Loan”) for capital expenditures and CEA facility construction and improvements. The JPM Loan matures on September 24, 2022 and has an interest rate that is equivalent to LIBOR plus 2.25%. Management does not believe the anticipated discontinuation of the publication of LIBOR term rates will have a material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations. As of December 31, 2021 we had borrowed $24.3 million and the effective interest rate was 2.375%. The JPM Loan requires 105% of the aggregate borrowings to be held as cash collateral. At December 31, 2021 we had $25.6 million of restricted cash on the consolidated balance sheet to meet this requirement. On January 10, 2022, we entered into an amended and restated promissory note (the “Amended Note”) in favor of the Bank, which amended the JPM Loan. This amendment increased the existing line of credit in the maximum amount from $25 million to $50 million and implemented SOFR as the replacement of LIBOR as a benchmark interest rate for U.S. dollar borrowings.

On December 15, 2021, we entered into the Purchase Agreement with B. Riley Principal Capital, pursuant to which we have a right to sell to B. Riley Principal Capital up to $100 million of newly issued shares of our common stock.

The closingstock, subject to certain limitations and conditions. Sales of the sale of the PIPE SharesCommon Stock pursuant to the Subscription Agreements is contingent upon, among other customary closing conditions,24-month purchase agreement, and the substantially concurrent consummationtiming of any sales, are solely at our option, and we are under no obligation to sell any securities to B. Riley Principal Capital under the Purchase Agreement. As of December 31, 2021, the entire commitment was available for use. We may not issue or sell any shares of Common Stock to B. Riley Principal Capital under the purchase agreement that would result in B. Riley Principal Capital beneficially owning more than 4.99% of the proposedoutstanding shares of Common Stock. The net proceeds under the purchase agreement to us will depend on the frequency and prices at which we sell shares of our stock to B. Riley Principal Capital. We expect that any proceeds received under the Purchase Agreement will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.


Use of Cash

The large-scale high-tech CEA business combination. The purposeis capital-intensive, and we expect to continue to expend significant resources as we continue construction of our next four CEA facilities in Central Appalachia, which include 15 acres at the Berea salad green facility, 60 acres at the Richmond tomato facility, 30 acres at the Somerset facility, where we will grow berries, and 10 acres at the Morehead salad green facility.

In addition to construction costs, these expenditures are expected to include:

working capital
costs associated with planting and harvesting, such as the purchase of seeds, growing supplies and mitigation of pest and plant disease outbreaks;
costs of acquiring and building out new facilities;
investment and development in CEA technology, including the AppHarvest Technology;
pursue other strategic investments in the CEA industry; and
the cost of attracting, developing and retaining a skilled labor force, including local labor.

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A labor shortage or increased turnover rates within our labor force has led to increased costs, that could continue, such as increased overtime to meet demand and increased wage rates to attract and retain employees or contract laborers, and could negatively impact our ability to efficiently operate our CEA facility at full capacity. An overall labor shortage, lack of skilled labor, increased turnover, material impacts of plant diseases or pest infestations, or inflation could have a material adverse impact on our operations, results of operations, liquidity or cash flows. Other unanticipated costs may arise due to the unique nature of the PIPE ishigh-tech CEA facilities, and the purchase and development of additional properties for future facilities.

Cash requirements for fiscal year 2022 are expected to raise additionalconsist primarily of our current payroll, working capital requirements, planned capital expenditure and debt service requirements. Total capital expenditures for use by the Combined Company following the Closing.

Pursuantfiscal year 2022 are expected to the Subscription Agreements, Novus agreed that, within 30 calendar days after the consummation of the proposed business combination, Novus will file with the SEC (at Novus’s sole cost and expense) the PIPE Resale Registration Statement, and Novus shall use its commercially reasonable effortsbe approximately $140 million to have the PIPE Resale Registration Statement declared effective as soon as practicable after the filing thereof, but no later than the earlier of (i) the 60th calendar day (or 120th calendar day if the SEC notifies Novus that it will “review” the PIPE Resale Registration Statement) following the Closing and (ii) the 10th business day after the date Novus is notified (orally or in writing, whichever is earlier) by the SEC that the PIPE Resale Registration Statement will not be “reviewed” or will not be subject to further review.

Results of Operations

Our activities since May 19, 2020, have consisted of the search and evaluation of potential targets in contemplation of a business combination. Our activities from March 5, 2020 (inception) through May 18, 2020 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare$150 million, which accounts for the IPO, described below, and identifying a target company for a business combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of the three construction projects underway and the related equipment needed to run them. We believe that our business combination. We generate non-operating income incash and cash equivalents on hand at December 31, 2021, are sufficient to meet our current payroll and working capital requirements for a period of at least 12 months from the formdate of interest income on marketable securities held in the trust account. We incur expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance),this Annual Report, as well as for due diligence expenses.


Forour debt service requirements and currently planned capital expenditure requirements as we continue to build out the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, we had a net lossBerea salad greens facility, Richmond tomato facility and the Somerset facility in 2022. We have the ability to defer and adjust our capital expenditures based on our ability to secure additional funding. The amount and timing of $3,458,412, which consisted of operatingour future funding requirements, if any, will depend on many factors, including the timing and costs of $3,506,941, offset by interest incomecompletion of our large-scale high-tech CEA facilities. We will plan the timing of completion of our CEA facilities around available funding.


In the long-term, our cash requirements are expected to be associated with planting and harvesting, acquiring and building out new facilities, investment and development in CEA technology, attracting, developing and retaining a skilled labor force, and working capital.

We could potentially use our available financial resources sooner than we currently expect and may incur additional indebtedness to meet future financing needs. Adequate additional funding may not be available to us on marketable securities heldacceptable terms or at all. In addition, although we anticipate being able to obtain additional financing through non-dilutive means, we may be unable to do so. Our failure to raise capital as and when needed could have significant negative consequences for our business, financial condition and results of consolidated operations. Our future capital requirements and the adequacy of available funds will depend on many factors, including those set forth in the trust accountsection titled “Risk Factors”.
Summary of $48,410Cash Flows
A summary of our cash flows from operating, investing, and interest income from our operating bank account of $119.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Until the consummation of the IPO, our only source of liquidity was an initial purchase of common stock by the initial stockholders and loans from the initial stockholders.

On May 19, 2020, we consummated our IPO of 10,000,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $100,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, we consummated the sale of 3,250,000 private warrants to our initial stockholders and EarlyBirdCapital, generating gross proceeds of $3,250,000.

Following the IPO and the sale of the private warrants, a total of $100,000,000 was placedfinancing activities is presented in the trust account. We incurred $2,456,726following table:

 Year Ended December 31,
(Dollars in thousands)20212020Change
Net cash used in operating activities$(103,924)$(13,147)$(90,777)
Net cash used in investing activities(315,409)(35,682)(279,727)
Net cash provided by financing activities573,734 64,707 509,027 
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year21,909 6,031 15,878 
Cash and cash equivalents (including restricted cash), end of period$176,311 $21,909 $154,401 
Net Cash used in IPO related costs, including $2,000,000 of underwriting fees and $456,726 of other costs.

For the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) though December 31, 2020,Operating Activities


Net cash used in operating activities was $506,335. Net loss of $3,458,412 was affected by interest earned on marketable securities held$103.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $13.1 million in the trust accountprior year. The change of $48,410$90.8 million was primarily due to $13.9 million for transaction costs related to the Business Combination, net losses incurred in the operation of our Morehead CEA facility, payment of utility and changeshedge program deposits, higher payroll and related costs driven by increased headcount, and professional services and legal fees including accounting and other consulting fees related to becoming a public company.

Net Cash used in operating assets and liabilities, which provided $3,000,487 ofInvesting Activities
Net cash used in investing activities was $315.4 million for operating activities.

As ofthe year ended December 31, 2020, we had investments2021 compared to $35.7 million for the prior year. The increase of $100,048,410 held in$279.7 million was primarily due to $123.0 million for the trust account. We intend to use substantially allpurchase of the funds heldMorehead CEA facility pursuant to the Membership Interest Purchase and Sale Agreement with Equilibrium that we completed on March 1, 2021, $177.7 million for purchases of property and equipment primarily related to construction of our Richmond, Berea, and Somerset CEA facilities, $9.8 million for the Root AI Acquisition on April 7, 2021, and $5.0 million for an investment in an unconsolidated entity.

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Net Cash provided by Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was $573.7 million for the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned onyear ended December 31, 2021 compared to $64.7 million for the trust account (less income taxes payable),prior year. The increase of $509.0 million was primarily due to completethe proceeds from the Business Combination of approximately $448.5 million and $130.2 million in net proceeds from short and long-term debt issuance, partially offset by a financing obligation payment of $2.1 million to Equilibrium as part of our proposed business combination. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our proposed business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operationspurchase of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitionsMorehead CEA facility and pursue our growth strategies.

As$3.2 million for payments of December 31, 2020, we had cashwithholding taxes related to conversions of $311,954 held outside of the trust account. We’ve used the funds held outside the trust account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel (to the extent necessary and practicable) to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a business combination.

In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a business combination, the initial stockholders, or certain of our officers and directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete a business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that a business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private warrants.

We will need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from our sponsor, stockholders, officers, directors, or third parties. Our officers, directors and sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet our working capital needs. Accordingly, we may not be able to obtain additional financing. If we are unable to raise additional capital, we may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. We cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to us on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2020.


Contractual Obligations

We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities other than the promissory note to a related party.

We have engaged EarlyBirdCapital as an advisor in connection with a business combination to assist us in holding meetings with its stockholders to discuss the potential business combination and the target business’ attributes, introduce us to potential investors that are interested in purchasing our securities in connection with a business combination, assist us in obtaining shareholder approval for the proposed business combination and assist us with its press releases and public filings in connection with the proposed business combination. We will pay EarlyBirdCapital a cash fee of $3.50 million (the “EBC Fee”) for such services upon the consummation of a business combination; provided that up to 30% of the fee may be allocated at our sole discretion to other third parties who are investment banks or financial advisory firms not participating in the IPO that assist us in identifying and consummating a business combination.

On September 28, 2020, we executed Subscription Agreements with subscribers for the sale of an aggregate of 37,500,000 shares of our commonrestricted stock at a purchase price of $10.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $375.0 million, in a private placement (the “PIPE”units (“RSUs”). The closing of the PIPE will occur contemporaneously with the consummation of our proposed business combination. We will receive net proceeds of $354.3 million from the PIPE.

We have engaged Cowen and Company, LLC (“Cowen”) to act as placement agent in connection with the PIPE. We will pay Cowen $1.05 million (or 30%) of the EBC Fee payable to EarlyBirdCapital.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

This discussion and analysis

The preparation of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements which have been prepared in accordanceconformity with GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statementsU.S. GAAP requires usmanagement to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported amountsin the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Although these estimates are based on our knowledge of assetscurrent events and liabilities, disclosureactions we may undertake in the future, actual results could differ from those estimates and assumptions.
Stock-Based Compensation and Private Warrants
We recognize in our Consolidated Statements of contingent assetsOperations and Comprehensive Loss the grant-date fair value of stock options and RSU awards issued to employees and directors. Our stock plans provide for the grant of various equity awards, including performance-based awards. For time-based RSU grants, we calculate stock-based compensation cost by multiplying the grant date fair market value by the number of shares granted. We recognize forfeitures of awards as they occur.

Certain of our RSU awards contain market and/or performance based vesting conditions. Those issued prior to the Business Combination were valued as described above, but were not vested until the successful completion of the Business Combination. Other market and performance based awards, specifically the executive awards, required the use of a Monte-Carlo simulation model to calculate the stock-based compensation expense, which requires inputs based on estimates, including the likelihood of the occurrence of performance and market conditions and volatility. Stock-based compensation for unvested market-based awards is not reduced by forfeitures as the grant date fair value of such awards includes consideration that vesting of the awards may not occur. Stock-based compensation expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the associated service period of the award, which is generally the vesting term.

We account for our Private Warrants in accordance with ASC 815-40, Derivatives and Hedging: Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity, under which we have determined that the Private Warrants are recognized as liabilities at fair value and subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised. Changes in fair value of the Private Warrants are recognized in our audited Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. The fair value of the Private Warrants is estimated at each measurement date using a Black-Scholes option pricing model.

We estimate the fair value of our stock option awards and Private Warrants using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, which is subject to uncertainty and requires the input of the following assumptions:

Fair Value of Common Stock — Historically, as there had been no public market for our common stock, the fair value of the common stock for stock-based awards was determined by our Board of Directors (the “Board”) based in part on valuations of the common stock prepared by a third-party valuation firm. Since the closing of the Business Combination, the fair value of each share of Common Stock underlying stock-based awards and our Private Warrants is based on the closing price of our common stock as reported by Nasdaq on the date of the financial statementsgrant.

Expected Term — The expected term of the options represents the average period the stock options are expected to remain outstanding. As we do not have sufficient historical information to develop reasonable expectations about future exercise patterns and post-vesting employment termination behavior, the expected term of options granted is derived from the average midpoint between the weighted average vesting and the reported amountscontractual term, also known as the simplified method. For the Private Warrants, the expected term is the time from transaction date to expiration in years.

Expected Volatility — As we were not a public company before the closing of revenuesthe Business Combination, and expenses duringdid not have any trading history for common stock, the reported period. In accordanceexpected volatility for the stock-based awards was based on the historical volatility of the common stock of comparable publicly traded companies. Since the closing of the Business Combination, our expected volatility is based on the trading history for our Common Stock and the historical volatility of the common stock of comparable publicly traded companies.

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Risk-Free Interest Rate — The risk-free interest rate is based on the yield of zero-coupon U.S. Treasury notes as of the grant date with GAAP,maturities commensurate with the expected term of the awards.

Expected Dividends — The expected dividends assumption is based on the expectation of not paying dividends in the foreseeable future; therefore, we baseused an expected dividend yield of zero.

Assumptions used in applying the Black-Scholes option-pricing model to determine the estimated fair value of stock options granted and Private Warrants issued involve inherent uncertainties and the application of judgment, especially our estimates on historical experienceexpected volatility given the short trading history of our common stock. As a result, if factors or expected outcomes change and on various other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates undersignificantly different assumptions or conditions. We have identifiedestimates are used, our equity-based compensation and Private Warrant liabilities could be materially different.

Inventory Valuation
Inventory is valued at the following critical accounting policies:

Common Stock Subjectlower of cost or net realizable value. The net realizable value of inventories represents the estimated selling price for inventories in the ordinary course of business, less all estimated costs of completion and costs necessary to Possible Redemption

We account for our common stockmake the sale. The determination of net realizable value is subject to possible conversionuncertainty and requires judgment, including consideration of factors such as expected future selling price the Company expects to realize by selling the inventory and the contractual arrangements with customers. The estimates are made at a point in accordance withtime, using available information, expected business plans and expected market conditions. As a result, the guidanceactual amount received on sale could differ from the estimated value of inventory. Periodic reviews are performed on the inventory balance. The impact of changes in ASC Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Common stock subject to mandatory redemptioninventory reserves is classified as a liability instrumentreflected in cost of goods sold.


Impairment of Intangible Assets

Goodwill is tested for impairment at least annually in the fourth quarter and measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertaincertain triggering events or substantive changes in circumstances that indicate that it is more likely than not solely within our control)that an impairment may have occurred.

In evaluating goodwill for impairment, we have the option to first perform a qualitative assessment to determine whether further impairment testing is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. Our common stock features certain redemption rights that are considerednecessary or to be outsideperform a quantitative assessment by comparing the fair value of our single reporting unit to its carrying amount, including goodwill. Under the qualitative assessment, we do not calculate the fair value of our single reporting unit unless we determine that it is more likely than not that its fair value is less than its carrying amount. Qualitative factors include macroeconomic conditions, industry and market conditions, cost factors, and overall financial performance, among others.

When a quantitative impairment analysis is performed, we compare the carrying amount of our single reporting unit to its fair value. If the fair value exceeds the carrying value, no further evaluation is required, and no impairment is recognized. If the carrying value exceeds the fair value, an impairment charge is recognized for the difference between carrying amount and fair value, not to exceed the original amount of goodwill.

In determining the estimated fair value of our reporting unit, we consider both the market approach and the income approach. For purposes of the goodwill impairment test, weighting is equally attributed to both the market and income approach in arriving at the fair value of the reporting unit.

Under the market approach, we utilize the guideline company method, which involves calculating valuation multiples based on operating data from comparable publicly traded companies. Multiples derived from these companies provide an indication of how much a knowledgeable investor in the marketplace would be willing to pay for a company. These multiples are then applied to the operating data for our reporting units to arrive at an indication of value.

Under the income approach, the fair value of the reporting unit is based on the present value of estimated future cash flows utilizing a market-based weighted-average cost of capital.

To determine the reasonableness of the calculated fair values of our reporting unit, we review the assumptions to ensure that neither the market approach nor the income approach yields significantly different valuations. We believe the combination of approaches, along with our judgment regarding underlying assumptions and estimates, provides us with the best estimate of fair value of our reporting unit. We also compare the indicated equity value to our market capitalization and evaluate the resulting implied control premium/discount to determine if the estimated enterprise value is reasonable compared to external market indicators.
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We elected to perform a qualitative assessment of impairment on October 1, 2021 and subject to occurrencedetermined that it was not more likely than not that the fair value of uncertain future events. Accordingly, common stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemptionthe Company was less than our carrying amount. At October 1, 2021, our equity value as temporarymeasured by our market capitalization was $185 million to over $300 million higher than our carrying amount, depending on the amount of control premium utilized. Throughout the fourth quarter, the Company’s market capitalization continued to decline. The Company also reevaluated the strategic investment requirements of AppHarvest Technology, Inc. as we seek to introduce turnkey CEA technology solutions into future market opportunities that include new robotics and automation products. We expect to expend significant resources as we invest in CEA technology, and pursue other strategic investments in the CEA industry. The decline in our market value and the new investment requirements represented interim indicators of impairment at December 31, 2021. Based on a quantitative assessment of our fair value using both the income and market approaches as described herein, we concluded that the carrying values of our goodwill and definite lived intangible assets were fully impaired at December 31, 2021. At that date, the Company’s equity outsidevalue as measured by its market capitalization was substantially below a carrying value that included our intangible asset balances.    
Recent Accounting Guidance
From time to time, new accounting pronouncements are issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or other standard setting bodies that we adopt as of the stockholders’ equity section of our consolidated balance sheet.

Net loss Per Common Share

We apply the two-class method in calculating loss per share. Common stock subject to possible redemption which is not currently redeemable and is not redeemable at fair value, has been excluded from the calculation of basic net loss per common share since such shares, if redeemed, only participate in their pro rata share of the trust account earnings. Our net loss is adjusted for the portion of loss that is attributable to common stock subject to possible redemption, as these shares only participate in the earnings of the trust account and not our income or losses.


Recent Accounting Standards

Management does notspecified effective date. Unless otherwise discussed, we believe that anythe impact of recently issued butstandards that are not yet effective accounting standards, if currently adopted, wouldwill not have a material effectimpact on our consolidated financial statements.

position or consolidated results of operations under adoption.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

As of December 31, 2020, substantially all ofRisk


Because we are considered to be a “smaller reporting company” under SEC rules and regulations, we are not required to provide the assets heldinformation required by this item in the trust account were held in money market funds. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we do not believe that there will be an associated material exposure to interest rate risk.

this report.



Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is included herein by reference.

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.

None.

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2020, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer have concluded that during the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable assurance level and, accordingly, provided reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in reports filed under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms.

Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting

This annual report does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Item 9B. Other Information.

None.

Data


PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.

Our current directors and executive officers are as follows:

NameAgePosition
Robert J. Laikin57Chairman
Larry M. Paulson66Chief Executive Officer and Director
Vincent Donargo60Chief Financial Officer
Heather Goodman47Director
Bradley A. Bostic45Director

Robert J. Laikin has served as our Chairman of the board of directors since our inception. Mr. Laikin currently serves as the non-executive Chairman of the board of directors of Washington Prime Group Inc. (NYSE:WPG), where he has held a director role since May 2014. Mr. Laikin held the Lead Independent Director role at Washington Prime Group Inc. until the position was eliminated by the board of directors in 2016 and he at that time became Chairman of the board of directors. Mr. Laikin has also been the managing member of L7 Investments LLC, a closely held company that invests primarily in multi-family apartments as well as single-purpose buildings, hotels, divestitures and single-family homes, since January 2016. Mr. Laikin served as Executive Advisor to the CEO and Government Relations Executive of Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE:IM), a wholesale technology distributor and supply-chain management and mobile device lifecycle services company, from November 2012 to December 2019. Previously Mr. Laikin served as the founder, Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors of Brightpoint, Inc. (Nasdaq:CELL) from August 1989 until it was acquired by Ingram Micro Inc. in November 2012. Mr. Laikin holds a Bachelor of Science from Indiana University. We believe Mr. Laikin is well-qualified to serve as our Chairman because of his significant experience in the areas of executive leadership, corporate management, retail, real estate, business strategy and corporate finance, banking, financing, accounting, corporate management, general business and global business operations, accounting, corporate governance, public company compliance, political/governmental matters, audit/compliance, entrepreneurism, real estate development, sales, charitable/philanthropic matters, marketing, risk management/insurance, legal, investor, media and public relations, negotiation and deal structure.

Larry M. Paulson has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors since our inception. He has also served as principal and founder of Rancho Santa Fe Solutions, a wireless industry consulting company he founded in February 2010. From 2013 to January 2020, Mr. Paulson was with Qualcomm (Nasdaq:QCOM) where he served as Vice President of Product Management (2013-16), Vice President and President India and SAARC (2016-2018) and Vice President Sales NA and Australia (2018-Jan 2020). Prior to Qualcomm, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing officer of Brightpoint, Inc., a provider of worldwide distribution and integrated logistics services to the wireless communications industry, from 2010 to 2013. Prior to that, he served with Nokia (NYSE:NOK) from 1987 to 2010 where he had numerous roles including global Senior Vice President and General Manager CDMA Product line. Mr. Paulson holds a BA in Communications from Point Park University. We believe Mr. Paulson is well-qualified to serve on our board of directors because of his more than thirty years of global senior management positions in the tech industry with expertise in wireless communications.

Vincent Donargo has served as our Chief Financial Officer since our inception. Since August 2020, Mr. Donargo has served as the Chief Accounting Officer for Calumet Specialty Products Partners, LP, a leading producer of specialty hydrocarbons and fuels. From December 2019 to August 2020, Mr. Donargo provided financial advisory and consulting services to private clients. From May 2019 to December 2019, Mr. Donargo served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Celadon Group Inc. (OTC:CGIPQ). From November 2017 to April 2019, he was Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer of the Celadon Group Inc., where he was brought in to assist with Celadon Group’s financial restructuring. Celadon Group filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy on December 8, 2019. From August 2016 to November 2017, Mr. Donargo was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Beaulieu Group LLC, a North American carpet and flooring manufacturing company, where he assisted the company with its financial restructuring process. Beaulieu Group LLC filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy on July 16, 2017. Prior to joining Beaulieu Group, Mr. Donargo held senior finance positions at several publicly traded companies, including Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Brightstar Corporation from April 2014 to August 2016 and Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Brightpoint, Inc. from September 2005 until it was acquired by Ingram Micro Inc. in November 2012. From 1998 to 2005, Mr. Donargo was the strategic business unit controller, director of finance and corporate controller of Aearo Company, a safety products manufacturing company. Prior to that, from 1990 to 1998, Mr. Donargo was employed in various financial positions with National Starch and Chemical Company, a specialty chemical manufacturing company. Mr. Donargo holds a BA in Accounting from Rutgers University.


Heather Goodman has served as a member of our board of directors since our inception. Since March 2007, Ms. Goodman has served as the Chief Operating Officer and President of True Capital Management, a boutique multi-family office specializing in business management and investment advisory services for athletes, entertainers and high net worth individuals. Previously Ms. Goodman acted as Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney from February 2002 to February 2007. Ms. Goodman holds a BS in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She is a Certified Public Accountant and maintains Series 63, 65 and life insurance licenses. We believe Ms. Goodman is well-qualified to serve as a director given her experience in building infrastructures which have created scalable platforms to achieve goals.

Bradley A. Bostic has served as a member of our board of directors since our inception. Mr. Bostic has served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of hc1, a bioinformatics company with more than 1,000 health systems and diagnostic laboratory sites utilizing its machine-learning powered software, since founding hc1 in 2011. Mr. Bostic has also served as the Managing Director of Health Cloud Capital since June 2017, where he leads the deployment of Health Cloud Capital Fund I, a special purpose vehicle targeting SaaS bioinformatics businesses that can be consolidated with hc1. Mr. Bostic has been responsible for forging strategic partnerships for hcl with global healthcare technology leaders including Quest Diagnostics, Appriss Health, CliniSys, and Amazon Web Services and leading healthcare organizations including Cleveland Clinic, University of Washington Health System, Sonora Quest Labs, and Sonic Healthcare. Mr. Bostic has served on the board of directors of TechPoint Indiana, an advisory body advising technology companies headquartered in Indiana, since January 2015 and Eskenazi Health Foundation, a non-profit organization aiming to promote a vital, healthy Indianapolis community, since December 2017. Mr. Bostic holds a BS in Business at Indiana University with a concentration in Informatics. We believe Mr. Bostic is well-qualified to serve on our board of directors given his expertise in the technology industry.

Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors

Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class serving a three-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Mr. Bostic, will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Ms. Goodman, will expire at the second annual meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Mr. Laikin, will expire at the third annual meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination (unless required by Nasdaq). Our executive officers are elected by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our executive officers may consist of a Chief Executive Officer, a President, a Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, a Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, a Treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.

Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chief Executive Officer, a President, a Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, a Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, a Treasurer, Assistant Treasurers and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.

Director Independence

Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that Messrs. Laikin and Bostic and Ms. Goodman are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules.

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Executive Officer and Director Compensation

No executive officer has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us.

No compensation or fees of any kind will be paid to the Novus initial stockholders, members of our management team or their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, they will receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with activities on our behalf, such as identifying potential target businesses, performing business due diligence on suitable target businesses and business combinations as well as traveling to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses to examine their operations. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us.

Committees of the Board of Directors

Our board of directors has two standing committees, an audit committee and a compensation committee. Each of our audit committee and our compensation committee is composed solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter that was approved by our board of directors and has the composition and responsibilities described below.

Audit Committee

Messrs. Laikin and Bostic and Ms. Goodman serve as members of our audit committee, and Ms. Goodman chairs the audit committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent. Each of Messrs. Laikin and Bostic and Ms. Goodman meet the independent director standard under Nasdaq listing standards and under Rule 10-A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act. The audit committee’s duties, which are specified in our Audit Committee Charter, include, but are not limited to:

reviewing and discussing with management and the independent auditor the annual audited financial statements, and recommending to the board whether the audited financial statements should be included in our Form 10-K;

discussing with management and the independent auditor significant financial reporting issues and judgments made in connection with the preparation of our financial statements;

discussing with management major risk assessment and risk management policies;

monitoring the independence of the independent auditor;

verifying the rotation of the lead (or coordinating) audit partner having primary responsibility for the audit and the audit partner responsible for reviewing the audit as required by law;

reviewing and approving all related-party transactions;

inquiring and discussing with management our compliance with applicable laws and regulations;

pre-approving all audit services and permitted non-audit services to be performed by our independent auditor, including the fees and terms of the services to be performed;

appointing or replacing the independent auditor;

determining the compensation and oversight of the work of the independent auditor (including resolution of disagreements between management and the independent auditor regarding financial reporting) for the purpose of preparing or issuing an audit report or related work;

establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by us regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or reports which raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies; and

approving reimbursement of expenses incurred by our management team in identifying potential target businesses.


Compensation Committee

Messrs. Laikin and Bostic and Ms. Goodman, each of whom is an independent director under Nasdaq’s listing standards, serve as members of the compensation committee. Mr. Bostic chairs the compensation committee. The compensation committee’s duties, which are specified in our Compensation Committee Charter, include, but are not limited to:

reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation;

reviewing and approving the compensation of all of our other executive officers;

reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans;

implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans;

•assisting management in complying with our proxy statement/prospectus and annual report disclosure requirements;

approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our executive officers and employees;

if required, producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement/prospectus; and

reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors.

Nominating Committee

Messrs. Laikin and Bostic and Ms. Goodman, each of whom is an independent director under Nasdaq’s listing standards, serve as members of the nominating committee. Mr. Laikin chairs the nominating committee. The nominating committee is responsible for overseeing the selection of persons to be nominated to serve on our board of directors. The nominating committee considers persons identified by its members, management, stockholders, investment bankers and others.

Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees

The guidelines for selecting nominees, which are specified in the Nominating Committee Charter, generally provide that persons to be nominated:

should have demonstrated notable or significant achievements in business, education or public service;

should possess the requisite intelligence, education and experience to make a significant contribution to the board of directors and bring a range of skills, diverse perspectives and backgrounds to its deliberations; and

• should have the highest ethical standards, a strong sense of professionalism and intense dedication to serving the interests of the stockholders.

The nominating committee considers a number of qualifications relating to management and leadership experience, background and integrity and professionalism in evaluating a person’s candidacy for membership on the board of directors. The nominating committee may require certain skills or attributes, such as financial or accounting experience, to meet specific board needs that arise from time to time and will also consider the overall experience and makeup of its members to obtain a broad and diverse mix of board members. The nominating committee does not distinguish among nominees recommended by stockholders and other persons.

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Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance

Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than ten percent of our common stock to file reports of ownership and changes in ownership with the SEC. These reporting persons are also required to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file. Based solely upon a review of such forms, we believe that since our inception on March 5, 2020 there have been no delinquent filers.

Code of Ethics

We have adopted a code of ethics that applies to our officers and directors. We have filed copies of our code of ethics, our audit committee charter, nominating committee charter and compensation committee charter as exhibits to our registration statement in connection with our IPO. You may review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the code of ethics will be provided without charge upon request to us.

Conflicts of Interest

In general, officers and directors of a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware are required to present business opportunities to a corporation if:

the corporation could financially undertake the opportunity;

the opportunity is within the corporation’s line of business; and

it would not be fair to the corporation and its stockholders for the opportunity not to be brought to the attention of the corporation.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that:

except as may be prescribed by any written agreement with us, we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue; and

our officers and directors will not be liable to our company or our stockholders for monetary damages for breach of any fiduciary duty by reason of any of our activities to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law.

Our officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with other companies. In order to minimize potential conflicts of interest which may arise from such other corporate affiliations, each of our officers and directors has contractually agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, until the earliest of our execution of a definitive agreement for a business combination, our liquidation or such time as he ceases to be an officer or director, to present to our company for our consideration, prior to presentation to any other entity, any suitable business opportunity which may reasonably be required to be presented to us, subject to any fiduciary or contractual obligations he might have as of the date of this annual report.

The following table summarizes the relevant fiduciary or contractual obligations of our officers and directors:

Name of IndividualName of Affiliated Entity
Robert J. Laikin

Washington Prime Group Inc.

L7 Investments LLC

Eskenazi Health Foundation

Larry M. PaulsonRancho Santa Fe Solutions LLC
Heather GoodmanTrue Capital Management
Brad Bostic

hc1.com

Health Cloud Capital

Eskenazi Health Foundation

TechPoint

Bostech Ventures

BEA Holdings


Investors should also be aware of the following additional potential conflicts of interest:

None of our officers and directors is required to commit their full time to our affairs and, accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities.

Unless we consummate our initial business combination, our officers, directors and initial stockholders will not receive reimbursement or repayment for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them, or loans made to us, to the extent that such expenses exceed the amount of available proceeds not deposited in the trust account or interest earned on the trust account funds that are available to us.

The founder shares beneficially owned by our initial stockholders will be released from escrow only if a business combination is successfully completed, and the private warrants purchased by our initial stockholders, and any warrants which our officers or directors may purchase in the aftermarket will expire worthless if a business combination is not consummated. Additionally, our officers and directors and affiliates will not receive liquidation distributions from the trust account with respect to any of the founder shares. Furthermore, our initial stockholders have agreed that the private warrants will not be sold or transferred by them until after we have completed a business combination.

For the foregoing reasons, our board may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is appropriate to effect a business combination with.

To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our officers, directors or initial stockholders unless we have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions, that the business combination is fair to our unaffiliated stockholders from a financial point of view. We will also need to obtain the approval of a majority of our disinterested independent directors. Furthermore, in no event will any of our initial stockholders, members of our management team or their respective affiliates be paid any compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the consummation of an initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is) other than the repayment of the $150,000 loan and reimbursement of any out-of-pocket expenses.

Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors and officers will be indemnified by us to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware law as it now exists or may in the future be amended. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors will not be personally liable for monetary damages to us for breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, unless they violated their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders, acted in bad faith, knowingly or intentionally violated the law, authorized unlawful payments of dividends, unlawful stock purchases or unlawful redemptions, or derived an improper personal benefit from their actions as directors.

We will enter into agreements with our officers and directors to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our bylaws also will permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director or employee for any liability arising out of his or her actions, regardless of whether Delaware law would permit indemnification. We will purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our directors and officers against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify the directors and officers.

These provisions may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions. We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced directors and officers.


Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to our directors, officers and controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, we have been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.

Item 11. Executive Compensation.

No executive officer has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us.

No compensation or fees of any kind will be paid to our initial stockholders, members of our management team or their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, they will receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with activities on our behalf, such as identifying potential target businesses, performing business due diligence on suitable target businesses and business combinations as well as traveling to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses to examine their operations. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us.

After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders. However, the amount of such compensation may not be known at the time of the stockholder meeting held to consider an initial business combination, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation. In this event, such compensation will be publicly disclosed at the time of its determination in a Current Report on Form 8-K or a periodic report, as required by the SEC.

We may not take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after the initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.

We have no compensation plans under which equity securities are authorized for issuance.

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of the date of this annual report, by:

• each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of common stock;

• each of our executive officers, directors and director nominees; and

• all our executive officers, directors and director nominees as a group.

Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this annual report.


  Number of
Shares of Novus
 
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner (1) Common Stock  % 
Directors and Executive Officers of Novus:      
Robert J. Laikin  276,635   2.2%
Larry M. Paulson(2)  237,380   1.9%
Vincent Donargo  158,253   1.3%
Heather Goodman  86,956   * 
Bradley Bostic(3)  118,690   * 
All Directors and Executive Officers of Novus as a Group (5 Individuals)  877,914   6.9%
Five Percent Holders of Novus:      
BlueCrest(4)  826,000   6.5%
David Kempner Partners(5)  750,000   5.9%

* Less than one percent.

(1)Unless otherwise indicated, the business address of each of the directors and executive officers of Novus (including Robert J. Laikin) is c/o Novus Capital Corporation, 8556 Oakmont Lane, Indianapolis, IN 46260. Unless otherwise indicated, the business address of each of the directors and executive officers of the Combined Company (excluding Robert J. Laikin) is c/o AppHarvest, Inc., 401 W. Main Street, Suite 321, Lexington, KY 40507.

(2)Mr. Paulson holds founder shares through the Larry M Paulson and Gretchen V Paulson Family Trust dated Sept 4, 2019, and any amendments thereto, of which he is a trustee. Consequently, Mr. Paulson may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of such. He disclaims beneficial ownership of any shares other than to the extent he may have a pecuniary interest therein, directly or indirectly.

(3)Bradley A. Bostic holds founder shares through BEA Holdings II, LLC of which he is the managing director. Consequently, Mr. Bostic has voting and dispositive control over the shares held by BEA Holdings II, LLC and may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of such. He disclaims beneficial ownership of any shares other than to the extent he may have a pecuniary interest therein, directly or indirectly.

(4)As reported by BlueCrest Capital Management Limited (“BlueCrest”) on a Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on August 14, 2020, which states that BlueCrest and Michael Platt each hold shared voting and dispositive power over 826,000 shares. BlueCrest serves as investment manager to Millais Limited (“Millais”) and Michael Platt serves as principal, director and control person of BlueCrest, with respect to the shares held for the account of Millais. Millais USA LLC acts as sub-investment manager of Millais, and reports to BlueCrest. The amount of shares held post-Business Combination includes 500,000 shares purchased in the PIPE. The principal business address of BlueCrest and Michael Platt is Ground Floor, Harbour Reach, La Rue de Carteret, St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, JE2 4HR.

(5)As reported by Davidson Kempner Partners on a Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on May 29, 2020, which states that (i) Davidson Kempner Partners (“DKP”) holds shared voting and dispositive power over 133,575 shares, (ii) Davidson Kempner Institutional Partners, L.P. (“DKIP”) holds shared voting and dispositive power over 292,050 shares, (iii) Davidson Kempner International, Ltd. (“DKIL”) holds shared voting and dispositive power over 324,375 shares, and (iv) each of Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP (“DKCM”) and Anthony A. Yoseloff hold shared voting and dispositive power over 750,000 shares. MHD Management Co. (“MHD”) is the general partner of DKP and MHD Management Co. GP, L.L.C. is the general partner of MHD. DKCM is responsible for the voting and investment decisions of DKP. Davidson Kempner Advisers Inc. is the general partner of DKIP. DKCM is responsible for the voting and investment decisions of DKIP. DKCM is the investment manager of DKIL and is responsible for the voting and investment decisions of DKIL. DKCM acts as investment manager to each of DKP, DKIP and DKIL either directly or by virtue of a sub-advisory agreement with the investment manager of the relevant fund. DKCM GP LLC is the general partner of DKCM. The managing members of DKCM are Anthony A. Yoseloff, Eric P. Epstein, Avram Z. Friedman, Conor Bastable, Shulamit Leviant, Morgan P. Blackwell, Patrick W. Dennis, Gabriel T. Schwartz, Zachary Z. Altschuler, Joshua D. Morris and Suzanne K. Gibbons. Mr. Anthony A. Yoseloff through DKCM, is responsible for the voting and investment decisions relating to the securities held by DKP, DKIP and DKIL. The principal business address of DKP, DKIP, DKIL, DKCM and Mr. Anthony A. Yoseloff is c/o Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, 520 Madison Avenue, 30th Floor, New York, NY 10022.


Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.

Founder Shares

In March 2020, the Novus initial stockholders purchased an aggregate of 2,500,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. In addition, in March 2020, EarlyBirdCapital purchased 150,000 EBC Shares for $15 per share.

Private Warrants

Simultaneously with the IPO, the founders purchased an aggregate of 3,250,000 private warrants at a price of $1.00 per private warrant ($3.25 million in the aggregate) in a private placement. Each private warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of our common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. Proceeds from the private warrants were added to the proceeds from the IPO held in the trust account. If we do not complete an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of our IPO, or until November 19, 2021, the proceeds from the sale of the private warrants will expire worthless. The private warrants will be non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the Founders or their permitted transferees.

Registration Rights

The holders of the founder shares and representative shares, as well as the holders of the private warrants and any warrants that may be issued in payment of working capital loans made to us (and all underlying securities), will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to an agreement executed in connection with the IPO. The holders of a majority of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands we register such securities. The holders of the majority of the founder shares can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time commencing three months prior to the date on which these shares of common stock are to be released from escrow. The holders of a majority of the representative shares, private warrants and warrants issued in payment of working capital loans (or underlying securities) can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time after we consummates a business combination. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, EarlyBirdCapital may only make a demand on one occasion and only until May 14, 2025. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the consummation of a business combination; provided, however, that EarlyBirdCapital may participate in a “piggy-back” registration only until May 14, 2027. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

Promissory Note and Potential Affiliate Loans

From March through May 2020, Mr. Laikin, our Chairman, loaned Novus an aggregate of $97,525 under the $150,000 promissory note to cover expenses related to the IPO pursuant to a promissory note. These loans were non-interest bearing and were repaid with the proceeds from the IPO.

In order to meet our working capital needs following the consummation of the business combination, the Novus initial stockholders, officers and directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion. Each loan would be evidenced by a promissory note. The notes would either be paid upon consummation of our initial business combination, without interest, or, at holder’s discretion, up to $1.5 million of the notes may be converted into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the private warrants. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts, but no proceeds from our trust account other than the interest earned thereon would be used for such repayment.


PIPE

In connection with the PIPE, Robert J. Laikin, Larry M. Paulson, Heather Goodman, and Bradley Bostic, each a director of Novus, or their affiliates agreed to purchase 125,000 shares, 100,000 shares, 50,000 shares and 75,000 shares, respectively, at a purchase price of $10.00 per share and on the same terms and conditions as the other investors in the PIPE.

Transactions in Connection with the Proposed Business Combination

Lock-Up Agreements

At the Closing, the Novus initial stockholders and certain stockholders of AppHarvest will enter into Lock-up Agreements pursuant to which up of (i) the Early Release Shares, the Lock-Up Period shall terminate upon the earlier of (i) 365 days after the closing date of the Merger or (ii) the day after the date on which the closing price of the Combined Company common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 180 days after the closing date of the Merger. With respect to the shares held by any signatories of the Lock-up Agreement that are not Early Release Shares, the Lock-Up Period shall terminate upon the earlier of (i) 365 days after the closing date of the Merger or (ii) the closing of a sale, merger, liquidation, or exchange offer transaction after the closing date of the Merger.

Registration Rights Agreement

In connection with the Closing, Novus’ existing registration rights agreement (described under “Novus Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Related Party Transactions”) will be amended and restated to: (i) provide that the Combined Company will file a registration statement within 30 days following the Closing to register for resale (A) the securities held by the Founders that currently constitute Registrable Securities and (B) 10,000,000 shares of the Combined Company common stock to be issued to AppHarvest’s stockholders in the proposed business combination; (ii) provide AppHarvest’s stockholders with three demand registration rights, (iii) provide AppHarvest’s stockholders and Novus Founders customary underwritten takedown rights (subject to customary priorities, minimums, frequency, and quantity limits, cutbacks, deferrals and other terms); and (iv) afford each of AppHarvest’s Stockholders and the Founders, on a pari passu basis, “piggy back” registration rights with respect to any underwritten offerings by the other stockholders and by the Combined Company (with the Combined Company having priority in case of an underwriter’s cutback).

Sponsor Restricted Stock Agreement

In connection with the Closing, the Novus initial stockholders, Novus and AppHarvest will enter into a Sponsor Restricted Stock Agreement which will supersede and terminate the Stock Escrow Agreement. Pursuant to the Sponsor Restricted Stock Agreement, restrictions will apply to a number of shares of our common stock equal to 1,250,000 shares of our common stock held by the Novus initial stockholders, multiplied by (x) a number, not less than 0, equal to (i) the number of shares of our common stock validly redeemed by holders thereof pursuant to redemption rights provided in the Existing Certificate of Incorporation minus (ii) 1,025,000, divided by (y) the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time. Such Restricted Shares shall be subject to release upon satisfaction of the following trigger:

50% of the Restricted Shares shall be released upon the date on which (x) the closing price of the Combined Company common stock (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) equals or exceeds $12.50 per share for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period commencing after the Closing or (y) the Combined Company consummates a Subsequent Transaction, which results in its stockholders having the right to exchange their shares for cash, securities or other property having a value of at least $12.50 per share (for any noncash proceeds, determined based on the valuation set forth in the definitive agreements for such transaction or, in the absence of such valuation, as determined in good faith by the board of directors of the Combined Company); and

50% of the Restricted Shares shall be released upon the date on which (x) the closing price of the Combined Company common stock (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) equals or exceeds $15.00 per share for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period commencing after the Closing or (y) the Combined Company consummates a Subsequent Transaction, which results in its stockholders having the right to exchange their shares for cash, securities or other property having a value of at least $15.00 per share (for any noncash proceeds, determined based on the valuation set forth in the definitive agreements for such transaction or, in the absence of such valuation, as determined in good faith by the board of directors of the Combined Company).


In the event that none of the trigger events occur prior to the fifth anniversary of the Closing, the Restricted Shares shall be forfeited to the Combined Company and canceled and no stockholder shall have any rights with respect thereto.

The following examples illustrate the number of Novus founder shares that will be restricted as Restricted Shares:

Novus founder shares to become Restricted Shares=

1,250,000 x (number of shares of Novus common stock that are                redeemed – 1,025,000 shares)

number of shares of Novus common stock outstanding immediately prior to the Merger

1.Assuming 5,000,000 shares of Novus common stock are redeemed:1,250,000x(5,000,000 – 1,025,000)

12,500,000
=397,500 Restricted Shares
                        
2.Assuming no shares of Novus common stock are redeemed:1,250,000x

0

 

12,500,000

=0 Restricted Shares

3.Assuming 1,000,000 shares of Novus common stock are redeemed:1,250,000x

(1,000,000 – 1,025,000)

12,500,000

=0 Restricted Shares

Sponsor Support Agreement

On September 28, 2020, Novus, AppHarvest and the Novus initial stockholders entered into the Sponsor Support Agreement pursuant to which the Novus initial stockholders agreed to vote all of their shares of our common stock in favor of the approval and adoption of the Proposed Transactions. Additionally, such Novus initial stockholders have agreed, among other things, not to (a) transfer any of their shares of our common stock (or enter into any arrangement with respect thereto), subject to certain customary exceptions, (b) enter into any voting arrangement that is inconsistent with the Sponsor Support Agreement or (c) exercise their redemption rights in connection with the Merger.

Other Arrangements

No compensation or fees of any kind will be paid to the Novus initial stockholders, members of our management team or their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, such individuals will receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with activities on our behalf, such as identifying potential target businesses, performing business due diligence on suitable target businesses and business combinations as well as traveling to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses to examine their operations. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us.

After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the Combined Company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders. However, the amount of such compensation may not be known at the time of the stockholder meeting held to consider an initial business combination, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation. In this event, such compensation will be publicly disclosed at the time of its determination in a Current Report on Form 8-K or a periodic report, as required by the SEC.


All ongoing and future transactions between us and any of our officers and directors or their respective affiliates will be on terms believed by us to be no less favorable to us than are available from unaffiliated third parties. Such transactions will require prior approval by a majority of our uninterested “independent” directors or the members of our board who do not have an interest in the transaction, in either case who had access, at our expense, to our attorneys or independent legal counsel. We will not enter into any such transaction unless our disinterested “independent” directors determine that the terms of such transaction are no less favorable to us than those that would be available to us with respect to such a transaction from unaffiliated third parties.

Related Party Policy

Our Code of Ethics requires us to avoid, wherever possible, all related party transactions that could result in actual or potential conflicts of interests, except under guidelines approved by the board of directors (or the audit committee). Related-party transactions are defined as transactions in which (1) the aggregate amount involved will or may be expected to exceed $120,000 in any calendar year, (2) we or any of our subsidiaries is a participant, and (3) any (a) executive officer, director or nominee for election as a director, (b) greater than 5% beneficial owner of our shares of common stock, or (c) immediate family member, of the persons referred to in clauses (a) and (b), has or will have a direct or indirect material interest (other than solely as a result of being a director or a less than 10% beneficial owner of another entity). A conflict of interest situation can arise when a person takes actions or has interests that may make it difficult to perform his or her work objectively and effectively. Conflicts of interest may also arise if a person, or a member of his or her family, receives improper personal benefits as a result of his or her position.

Our audit committee, pursuant to its written charter, is responsible for reviewing and approving related-party transactions to the extent we enter into such transactions. The audit committee considers all relevant factors when determining whether to approve a related party transaction, including whether the related party transaction is on terms no less favorable to us than terms generally available from an unaffiliated third-party under the same or similar circumstances and the extent of the related party’s interest in the transaction. No director may participate in the approval of any transaction in which he is a related party, but that director is required to provide the audit committee with all material information concerning the transaction. We also require each of our directors and executive officers to complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions.

These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.

To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of the Novus initial stockholders, officers or directors unless we have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions, that the business combination is fair to our unaffiliated stockholders from a financial point of view. We will also need to obtain approval of a majority of our disinterested independent directors.

Director Independence

Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that Messrs. Laikin and Bostic and Ms. Goodman are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules.

Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services.

The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP (“Marcum”) for services rendered.


Audit Fees.   Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in our Forms 10-Q for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC for the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 totaled $127,205. The above amounts include interim procedures and audit fees, as well as attendance at audit committee meetings.

Audit-Related Fees.   We did not pay Marcum for audit-related services for the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.

Tax Fees.   We did not pay Marcum for tax planning and tax advice for the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.

All Other Fees.   We did not pay Marcum for other services for the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.

Pre-Approval Policy

Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our IPO. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof  (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.

(a)The following documents are filed as part of this annual report on Form 10-K:

1.Financial Statements:   See “Index to Financial Statements” at “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” herein.

(b) Financial Statement Schedules.   All schedules are omitted for the reason that the information is included in the financial statements or the notes thereto or that they are not required or are not applicable.

(c) Exhibits:   The exhibits listed in the accompanying index to exhibits are filed or incorporated by reference as part of this annual report on Form 10-K.


 Incorporated by Reference

Exhibit

Number

Description of DocumentSchedule/FormFile NumberExhibitsFiling Date
2.1Business Combination Agreement and Plan of Reorganization, dated September 28, 2020, by and among Novus, Merger Sub and AppHarvest Form 8-K 001-39288 2.1 September 29, 2020
3.1 Certificate of Incorporation of Novus  Form S-1  333-237877  3.1  April 28, 2020
3.2 Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Novus  Form S-1/A  333-237877 3.2  May 14, 2020
3.3 Amended and Restated Bylaws of Novus  Form S-1  333-237877 3.3  April 28, 2020
4.1 Specimen Unit Certificate of Novus  Form S-1/A  333-237877  4.1  May 14, 2020
4.2 Specimen Common Stock Certificate of Novus Form S-1 333-237877 4.2  April 28, 2020
4.3 Specimen Warrant Certificate of Novus Form S-1 333-237877 4.3  April 28, 2020
4.4 Specimen Common Stock Certificate of Combined Company Form S-4/A 333-249421 4.4  December 1, 2020
4.5 Warrant Agreement, dated May 19, 2020, by and between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and Novus Form 8-K 001-39288 4.1  May 20, 2020
10.1 Business Combination Marketing Agreement, dated May 14, 2020, between Novus and EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. Form 8-K 001-39288 1.2 May 20, 2020
10.2Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated May 19, 2020, by and between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and NovusForm 8-K001-3928810.1May 20, 2020
10.3Stock Escrow Agreement, dated May 19, 2020, by and among Novus, Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and Novus Initial StockholdersForm 8-K001-3928810.2May 20, 2020
10.4Registration Rights Agreement, dated May 19, 2020, by and among Novus and certain stockholdersForm 8-K001-3928810.3May 20, 2020
10.5Form of Amended and Restated Registration Rights Agreement, by and among Novus, Novus Initial Stockholders and New HoldersForm S-4/A333-24942110.5November 9, 2020
10.6 Promissory Note of Novus Form S-1 333-237877 10.3 April 28, 2020
10.7Stockholder Support Agreement, dated September 28, 2020, by and among Novus and certain stockholdersForm 8-K001-3928810.1September 29, 2020
10.8Sponsor Support Agreement, dated as of September 28, 2020, by and among Novus and Novus Initial StockholdersForm 8-K001-3928810.2September 29, 2020
10.9Form of Subscription Agreement for private warrants by Novus Initial StockholdersForm S-1333-23787710.5.1April 28, 2020
10.10Warrant Subscription Agreement, dated March 26, 2020, by and between Novus and EarlyBirdCapital, Inc.Form S-1333-23787710.5.2April 28, 2020
10.11Form of Letter Agreement from Novus’s officers and directorsForm S-1333-23787710.1.1April 28, 2020
10.12Form of Letter Agreement from the Novus’s initial stockholdersForm S-1333-23787710.1.2April 28, 2020
10.13Form of Letter Agreement from the Novus’s chairmanForm S-1333-23787710.1.3April 28, 2020
10.14Form of Letter Agreement from Novus’s CFOForm S-1333-23787710.1.4April 28, 2020
10.15Form of Lock-Up AgreementForm S-4333-24942110.15October 9, 2020
10.16Form of Sponsor Restricted Stock Agreement, by and among Novus, Novus Initial Stockholders and AppHarvestForm S-4/A333-24942110.16November 9, 2020
10.17Form of PIPE Subscription AgreementForm 8-K001-3928810.3September 29, 2020
24Power of Attorney (included on signature page of this Form 10-K).*
31.1Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to Securities Exchange Act Rules 13a-14(a) and 15(d)-14(a), as adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
31.2Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to Securities Exchange Act Rules 13a-14(a) and 15(d)-14(a), as adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
32.1Certification of Principal Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
32.2Certification of Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
          

(101.INS)XBRL Instance Document
Index to Consolidated Financial Statements
Audited Consolidated Financial Statements of AppHarvest, Inc. for the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020(101.SCH)XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
(101.CAL)XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
(101.DEF)XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
(101.LAB)XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
(101.PRE)XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document


SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the Registrant has duly caused this annual report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in New York City, New York, on the 29th day of January, 2021.

Novus Capital Corporation

By:
/s/ Larry M. Paulson
Name: Larry M. Paulson
Title:   Chief Executive Officer

POWERS OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL BY THESE PRESENTS, that each of the undersigned constitutes and appoints each of Vincent Donargo and Robert J. Laikin, each acting alone, his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for such person and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign this annual report on Form 10-K (including amendments thereto), and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, each acting alone, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming that any such attorney-in-fact and agent, or his or her substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, this annual report has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

NamePositionDate

/s/ Larry M. Paulson

Larry M. Paulson

Chief Executive Officer and Director (Principal Executive Officer)January 29, 2021

/s/ Robert J. Laikin

Robert J. Laikin

Chairman of the Board of Directors and DirectorJanuary 29, 2021

/s/ Vincent Donargo

Vincent Donargo

Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)
January 29, 2021

/s/ Heather Goodman

Heather Goodman

DirectorJanuary 29, 2021

/s/ Bradley A. Bostic

Bradley A. Bostic

DirectorJanuary 29, 2021


NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ReportReports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID 42)
Financial Statements:Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2021 and 2020
Consolidated Balance SheetStatements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
Consolidated StatementStatements of OperationsStockholders’ Equity for the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ EquityF-5
Consolidated StatementStatements of Cash Flows for the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

F-1

54

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM



Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the ShareholdersStockholders and the Board of Directors of

Novus Capital Corporation

AppHarvest, Inc.


Opinion on the Financial Statements


We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheetsheets of Novus Capital CorporationAppHarvest, Inc. (the “Company”)Company) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related consolidated statements of operations changes in stockholders’and comprehensive loss, stockholders' equity and cash flows for each of the two years in the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) throughended December 31, 2020,2021, and the related notes (collectively(collectively referred to as the “financial“consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as ofat December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the two years in the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) throughended December 31, 2020,2021, in conformity with accounting principlesU.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

We also have audited, in accordance with the United Statesstandards of America.

Explanatory Paragraph – Going Concern

The accompanying consolidatedthe Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company's internal control over financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As more fully described in Note 2 to the financial statements, the Company’s business plan is dependent on the completion of a business combination and the Company’s cash and working capitalreporting as of December 31, 2020 are not sufficient to complete its planned activities. These conditions raise substantial doubt about2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. Management's plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 2. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result fromCommittee of Sponsoring Organizations of the outcome of this uncertainty.

Treadway Commission (2013 framework) and our report dated March 1, 2022 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.


Basis for Opinion


These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company'sCompany’s financial statements based on our audit.audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) ("PCAOB")PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.


We conducted our auditaudits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our auditaudits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our auditaudits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit providesaudits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.


Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective or complex judgments. The communication of the critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the account or disclosure to which it relates.

Valuation of Private Warrant Liability
Description of the matter

The fair value of the private warrant liability was $1.4 million at December 31, 2021. As discussed in Note 5 to the consolidated financial statements, the fair value of the private warrant liability was valued each reporting period using a Black-Scholes model that utilized various assumptions, including term, stock price, volatility, risk free rate and dividend yield, to calculate the fair value of the liability. The volatility assumption was the most subjective assumption, and it had a significant effect on the fair value of the private warrant liability. The volatility assumption was calculated using the equity volatilities of the Company and guideline public companies, which were selected based on the similarity of their operations to that of the Company.

Auditing the fair value of the private warrant liability was challenging due to the judgmental nature of the Company’s selection of the guideline public companies used to determine the volatility assumption.
55


How we addressed the matter in our audit
We obtained an understanding, evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of internal controls over the Company’s valuation of the private warrants. This includes internal controls over management's assessment of the assumptions utilized within the Black-Scholes model, including the volatility assumption, and the monitoring of outstanding private warrants subject to valuation.

To test the fair value of the private warrant liability, our audit procedures included, among others, assessing the appropriateness of the use of the Black-Scholes model and accuracy of the underlying calculation, including testing the assumptions used to calculate the fair value of the private warrant liability. We compared the term, stock price, risk free rate and dividend yield to readily available external information as of the valuation dates for each reporting period. For the volatility assumption, we assessed the suitability of the guideline public companies used by the Company based on the similarity of their operations to that of the Company, compared the equity volatilities of the guideline public companies used in the estimate to the Company’s actual historical stock price performance. We also compared the volatility assumption used by the Company to our independently developed range of volatilities based on the cumulative volatilities of the guideline public companies adjusted for the relative size of the Company. We involved our valuation specialists to assist us with evaluating the assumptions used in the Black-Scholes model, as well as to perform comparative range calculations using the assumptions previously discussed.


/s/ Marcum llp

Marcum llp

Ernst & Young LLP


We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2020.

Louisville, Kentucky
March 1, 2022




56



Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm


To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of AppHarvest, Inc.

Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

We have audited AppHarvest, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, AppHarvest, Inc. (the Company) maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on the COSO criteria.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the 2021 consolidated financial statements of the Company and our report dated March 1, 2022 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Louisville, Kentucky
March 1, 2022







57


AppHarvest, Inc.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands except per share amounts)
 December 31,
2021
December 31,
2020
Assets  
Current Assets:  
Cash and cash equivalents$150,755 $21,909 
Restricted cash25,556 — 
Accounts receivable, net1,575 — 
Inventories, net4,998 3,387 
Prepaid expenses and other current assets5,613 481 
Total current assets188,497 25,777 
Operating lease right-of-use assets, net5,010 1,307 
Property and equipment, net343,913 152,645 
Other assets, net16,644 1,188 
Total non-current assets365,567 155,140 
Total assets$554,064 $180,917 
Liabilities and stockholders’ equity
Current Liabilities:
Accounts payable$8,553 $1,342 
Accrued expenses15,794 5,184 
Current portion of lease liabilities with a related party— 59,217 
Current portion of lease liabilities751 166 
Current portion of financing obligation with a related party— 58,795 
Current portion of long-term debt28,020 — 
Note payable with a related party— 30,000 
Other current liabilities119 77 
Total current liabilities53,237 154,781 
Long-term debt, net of current portion102,637 — 
Lease liabilities, net of current portion4,938 1,370 
Deferred income tax liabilities2,418 — 
Private Warrant liabilities1,385 — 
Other liabilities1,809 — 
Total non-current liabilities113,187 1,370 
Total liabilities166,424 156,151 
Commitments and contingencies (Note 11)00
Stockholders’ equity
Preferred stock, par value $0.0001, 10,000 shares authorized, 0 issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively— — 
Common stock, par value $0.0001, 750,000 shares authorized, 101,136 and 44,461 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively10 
Additional paid-in capital576,895 45,890 
Accumulated deficit(187,314)(21,128)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss(1,951)— 
Total stockholders’ equity387,640 24,766 
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity$554,064 $180,917 
See accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements
58


AppHarvest, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss
(in thousands, except per share amounts)
 Year ended December 31,
 20212020
Net sales$9,050 $— 
Cost of goods sold41,938 — 
(32,888)— 
Operating expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses107,245 16,471 
Goodwill and other intangible asset impairment59,901 — 
Total operating expenses167,146 16,471 
Loss from operations(200,034)(16,471)
Other income (expense):
Development fee income from a related party— 406 
Interest expense from related parties(658)(1,423)
Change in fair value of Private Warrants35,047 — 
Other448 49 
Loss before income taxes(165,197)(17,439)
Income tax expense(989)(9)
Net loss(166,186)(17,448)
Other comprehensive loss:
Net unrealized losses on derivatives contracts, net of tax(1,951)— 
Comprehensive loss$(168,137)$(17,448)
Net loss per common share:
Basic and diluted$(1.74)$(0.46)
Weighted average common shares outstanding:
Basic and diluted95,571 38,072 
See accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements

59


AppHarvest, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity
(in thousands)

 Additional
Paid-in
Capital
Accumulated
Deficit
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss
 Common StockTotal 
Stockholders’
Equity
 SharesAmount
Balance, December 31, 20199,677 $$497 $(3,680)$— $(3,182)
Retroactive application of recapitalization21,123 12,256 — — — 12,258 
Adjusted balance, December 31, 201930,800 12,753 (3,680)— 9,076 
Net loss— — — (17,448)— (17,448)
Issuance of preferred shares, net13,503 32,948 — — 32,949 
Stock option exercise158 — 35 — — 35 
Stock-based compensation— — 154 — — 154 
Balance, December 31, 202044,461 45,890 (21,128)— 24,766 
Business Combination and PIPE shares, net53,361 433,521 — — 433,527 
Conversion of Private Warrants— — 9,133 — — 9,133 
Exercise of warrants— 95 95 
Issuance of common stock for acquisition of Root AI2,329 — 48,991 — — 48,991 
Vesting of restricted stock units605 — (3,216)— — (3,216)
Issuance of stock options for acquisition of Root AI— — 361 — — 361 
Issuance of common stock for commitment shares198 — 1,006 — — 1,006 
Issuance of common stock under Employee Stock Purchase Plan39 — 165 — — 165 
Net loss— — — (166,186)— (166,186)
Other comprehensive loss— — — — (1,951)(1,951)
Stock options exercised135 — 39 — — 39 
Stock-based compensation— — 40,910 — — 40,910 
Balance, December 31, 2021101,136 $10 $576,895 $(187,314)$(1,951)$387,640 
See accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements
60


AppHarvest, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(In thousands)
 Year ended December 31,
 20212020
Operating Activities  
Net loss$(166,186)$(17,448)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:
Change in fair value of Private Warrants(35,047)— 
Deferred income tax provision989 
Depreciation and amortization10,794 176 
Stock-based compensation expense40,910 154 
Issuance of common stock for commitment shares1,006 — 
Rent payments (in excess of) less than average rent expense, net(10)26 
Interest accrual on financing with related parties— 1,414 
Amortization of development fee with a related party— (406)
Goodwill and other intangible asset impairment59,901 — 
Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of acquisitions
Accounts receivable(1,316)— 
Inventories, net(1,611)(2,962)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets(4,872)(347)
Other assets, net(10,528)(948)
Accounts payable402 1,175 
Accrued expenses2,366 1,933 
Other current liabilities(874)77 
Other non-current liabilities153 4,000 
Net cash used in operating activities(103,924)(13,147)
Investing Activities
Purchases of property and equipment(177,742)(35,682)
Purchases of property and equipment from a related party(122,911)— 
Cost of acquisition, net of cash acquired(9,756)— 
Investment in unconsolidated entity(5,000)— 
Net cash used in investing activities(315,409)(35,682)
Financing Activities
Proceeds from debt to a related party— 32,000 
Proceeds from Business Combination and PIPE Shares, net448,500 — 
Proceeds from debt131,278 — 
Debt issuance costs(1,038)— 
Payments on financing obligation to a related party(2,089)(258)
Proceeds from stock options exercised39 35 
Proceeds from employee stock purchase plan165 — 
Proceeds from exercise of warrants95 — 
Payments of withholding taxes on restricted stock conversions(3,216)— 
Issuance of preferred stock, net— 32,949 
Other financing activities— (19)
Net cash provided by financing activities573,734 64,707 
Change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash154,402 15,878 
Beginning of period21,909 6,031 
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at the end of period176,311 21,909 
Less restricted cash at the end of the period25,556 — 
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of period$150,755 $21,909 
Non-cash activities
Fixed assets purchases in accounts payable$6,779 $— 
Fixed assets purchases in accrued liabilities$8,826 $2,574 
Operating lease right-of-use assets and liabilities$3,989 $1,441 
Conversion of equipment loan to finance lease liability with a related party$— $2,089 
See accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements
61

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020

New York, NY

(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)








1. Description of Business
AppHarvest, Inc. (the “Company”, or “AppHarvest”) was founded on January 19, 2018. Together with its subsidiaries, AppHarvest is an applied agricultural technology company in Appalachia developing and operating some of the world’s largest high-tech indoor farms, which are designed to grow non-GMO produce, free of or with minimal chemical pesticide residues, use primarily rainwater, and produce significantly higher yields than those achieved by traditional agriculture on the same amount of land. AppHarvest combines conventional agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence and robotics, to improve access to nutritious food, farming more sustainably, building a domestic food supply, and increasing investment in Appalachia.

Prior to October 2020, AppHarvest’s operations were limited to the start-up concerns of organizing and staffing, business planning, raising capital, and acquiring and developing properties for Controlled Environment Agriculture (“CEA”). In October 2020, AppHarvest partially opened its first CEA facility in Morehead, Kentucky (the “Morehead CEA facility”). AppHarvest harvested its first crop of beefsteak tomatoes and tomatoes on the vine in January 2021 and March 2021, respectively. In May 2021, AppHarvest opened production of the full 60 acres at the Morehead CEA facility and, in August 2021, concluded the first harvest. The Company completed planting of its second crop at the Morehead CEA facility in September 2021, and began harvest of the crop in the fourth quarter of 2021.

AppHarvest has started construction on 4 more CEA facilities. NaN of the facilities under construction are located in Berea, Kentucky (the “Berea salad greens facility”) and Richmond, Kentucky (the “Richmond tomato facility”). Groundbreakings for 2 more CEA facilities occurred in June 2021 in Somerset, Kentucky (the “Somerset facility”) and Morehead, Kentucky (the “Morehead salad greens facility”). The Somerset facility is intended to grow berries and the Morehead salad greens facility, which is adjacent to the Morehead CEA facility, is intended to grow salad greens. During 2021, the Company temporarily paused the development of the 10-acre Morehead salad greens facility, with construction expected to resume in 2022.

AppHarvest is organized as a single operating segment. Substantially all of the assets and operations of AppHarvest are located in the United States (“U.S.”).

Basis of Presentation

On January 29, 2021,


NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

DECEMBER 31, 2020

ASSETS    
Current Assets    
Cash $311,954 
Prepaid expenses  77,701 
Total Current Assets  389,655 
     
Cash and marketable securities held in Trust Account  100,048,410 
TOTAL ASSETS $100,438,065 
     
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY    
Current Liabilities - accounts payable and accrued expenses $3,078,188 
Total Liabilities  3,078,188 
     
Commitments    
     
Common stock subject to possible redemption 9,235,987 shares at redemption value  92,359,870 
     
Stockholders’ Equity    
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized, none issued and outstanding   
Common stock, $0.0001 par value, 30,000,000 shares authorized, 3,414,013 shares issued and outstanding (excluding 9,235,987 shares subject to possible redemption)  341 
Additional paid in capital  8,458,078 
Accumulated deficit  (3,458,412)
Total Stockholders’ Equity  5,000,007 
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY $100,438,065 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.


NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS

FOR THE PERIOD FROM MARCH 5, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020

Formation and operating costs $3,506,941 
Loss from operations  (3,506,941)
     
Other income:    
Interest income - bank  119 
Interest earned on marketable securities held in Trust Account  48,410 
Other income, net  48,529 
     
Net Loss $(3,458,412)
     
Weighted average shares outstanding, basic and diluted (1)  2,959,790 
     
Basic and diluted net loss per common share $(1.17)

(1)Excludes an aggregate of 9,235,987 shares subject to possible redemption.

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.


NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

FOR THE PERIOD FROM MARCH 5, 2020 (INCEPTION) TO DECEMBER 31, 2020

              Total 
  Common Stock  Paid  Accumulated  Stockholders’ 
  Shares  Amount  in Capital  Deficit  Equity 
Balance – March 5, 2020 (inception)    $  $  $  $ 
                     
Issuance of common stock to initial stockholders  2,875,000   287   24,713      25,000 
                     
Issuance of Representative Shares  150,000   15         15 
                     
Forfeiture of Founder Shares  (375,000)  (37)  37       
                     
Sales of 10,000,000 Units, net of underwriter discounts and fees  10,000,000   1,000   97,542,274      97,543,274 
                     
Sale of 3,250,000 Private Warrants        3,250,000      3,250,000 
                     
Common stock subject to redemption  (9,235,987)  (924)  (92,358,946)     (92,359,870)
                     
Net loss           (3,458,412)  (3,458,412)
                     
Balance – December 31, 2020  3,414,013  $341  $8,458,078  $(3,458,412) $5,000,007 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.


NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

FOR THE PERIOD FROM MARCH 5, 2020 (INCEPTION) TO DECEMBER 31, 2020

Cash Flow from Operating Activities:    
Net loss $(3,458,412)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities    
Interest earned on marketable securities held in Trust Account  (48,410)
Changes in operating assets and liabilities    
Prepaid expenses  (77,701)
Accounts payable and accrued expenses  3,078,188 
Net cash used in operating activities  (506,335)
     
Cash Flows from Investing Activities:    
Investment of cash in Trust Account  (100,000,000)
Net cash used in investing activities  (100,000,000)
     
Cash Flow from Financing Activities:    
Proceeds from initial stockholders  25,000 
Proceeds from sale of Units, net of underwriting discounts paid  98,000,000 
Proceeds from sale of Private Warrants  3,250,000 
Proceeds from issuance of Representative Shares  15 
Proceeds from promissory note – related party  97,525 
Repayment of promissory note – related party  (97,525)
Payment of deferred offering costs  (456,726)
Net cash provided by financing activities  100,818,289 
     
Net change in cash  311,954 
Cash – Beginning, March 5, 2020 (inception)   
Cash - Ending $311,954 
     
Non-Cash Investing and Financing Activities:    
Initial classification of common stock subject to possible redemption $95,817,950 
Change in value of common stock subject to possible redemption $(3,458,080)
     

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.


NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2020

NOTE 1 — DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

(the “Closing Date”), Novus Capital Corporation (the “Company”(“Novus”) was incorporated in Delaware on March 5, 2020. The Company is, a blank checkspecial purpose acquisition company, formed forconsummated the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entitiesagreement and plan of reorganization (the “Business Combination”Combination Agreement”).

dated September 2020, by and among ORGA, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Novus (“Merger Sub”), and AppHarvest Operations, Inc., a Delaware corporation is (f/k/a wholly owned subsidiaryAppHarvest, Inc.) (“Legacy AppHarvest”).


Pursuant to the terms of the Company (“Merger Sub”) (see Note 6).

The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.

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. A significant outbreak of COVID- 19 and other infectious diseases could result in a widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummateBusiness Combination Agreement, a business combination could be materiallybetween Novus and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unableLegacy AppHarvest was effected through the merger of Merger Sub with and into Legacy AppHarvest, with Legacy AppHarvest surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novus (the “Merger” and, collectively with the other transactions described in the Business Combination Agreement, the “Business Combination”). On the Closing Date, Novus changed its name to completeAppHarvest, Inc.


Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, the Merger was accounted for as a business combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19 restrict travel, limitreverse recapitalization (the “Reverse Recapitalization”) in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). Under this method of accounting, Novus is treated as the ability to have meetings“acquired” company and Legacy AppHarvest is treated as the acquirer for financial reporting purposes. The Reverse Recapitalization was treated as the equivalent of Legacy AppHarvest issuing stock for the net assets of Novus, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of Novus are stated at historical cost, with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19no goodwill or other mattersintangible assets recorded.

Legacy AppHarvest was determined to be the accounting acquirer based on the following predominant factors:

Legacy AppHarvest stockholders have the largest portion of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.

Our activities since May 19, 2020, have consisted of the search and evaluation of potential targets in contemplation of a business combination. All activity for the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) through May 18, 2020 relates to the Company’s formation, the initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering”), which is described below. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of a Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating incomevoting rights in the formCompany;


The Board and Management are primarily composed of interest income from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering. On September 28, 2020, the Company entered into a proposed business combinationindividuals associated with Legacy AppHarvest; and

62

AppHarvest, Inc. (“AppHarvest”) (see Note 6).

The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on May 14, 2020. On May 19, 2020, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 10,000,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect

Notes to the shares of common stock included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”) at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $100,000,000, which is described in Note 3.

Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of 3,250,000 warrants (the “Private Warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per Private Warrant in a private placement to the Company’s founding stockholders (the “Sponsors”) and EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. (“EarlyBirdCapital”), generating gross proceeds of $3,250,000, which is described in Note 4.

Following the closing of the Initial Public Offering on May 19, 2020, an amount of $100,000,000 ($10.00 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) located in the United States, and invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with a maturity of 180 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund selected by the Company meeting the conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination or (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account, as described below.

Transaction costs amounted to $2,456,726 consisting of $2,000,000 of underwriting fees and $456,726 of other offering costs. In addition, as of Consolidated Financial Statements

December 31, 2021 and 2020 cash of $311,954
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







Legacy AppHarvest was held outside of the Trust Accountlarger entity based on historical operating activity and is available for working capital purposes.

The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect toLegacy AppHarvest had the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Warrants, although substantially all net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. The Company must complete a Business Combination having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the Trust Account (excluding taxes payable on income earned on the Trust Account)larger employee base at the time of the agreement to enter into an initial Business Combination. The Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns


In connection or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act.


NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2020

The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding Public Shares (the “public stockholders”)concurrent with the opportunityBusiness Combination:


Each share of Legacy AppHarvest redeemable convertible preferred stock that was issued and outstanding prior to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii)was automatically converted into shares of Legacy AppHarvest common stock, such that each converted share of redeemable convertible preferred stock was no longer outstanding and ceased to exist.

Novus assumed an outstanding convertible note issued by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whetherLegacy AppHarvest (the “Legacy AppHarvest Convertible Note”) after the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The public stockholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially anticipated to be $10.00 per Public Share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations). There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of a Business Combination with respect to the Company’s warrants.

The Company will proceed with a Business Combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 immediately prior to or upon such consummation of a Business Combination and, if the Company seeks stockholder approval, a majority of the shares voted are voted in favordate of the Business Combination. IfCombination Agreement and before the Merger. At the time of the Merger, the outstanding principal and unpaid accrued interest due on the Legacy AppHarvest Convertible Note were converted into shares of the Company’s common stock in accordance with the terms of the Legacy AppHarvest Convertible Note, and such converted Legacy AppHarvest Convertible Note was no longer outstanding and ceased to exist, and any liens securing obligations under the Legacy AppHarvest Convertible Note were released.


Each share of Legacy AppHarvest common stock, including the Legacy AppHarvest common stock issued upon conversion of the Legacy AppHarvest redeemable convertible preferred stockholders, was converted into and exchanged for 2.1504 shares (the “Exchange Ratio”) of the Company’s common stock.

Each option to purchase Legacy AppHarvest common stock that was outstanding, whether vested or unvested, was converted into an option to purchase a stockholder vote is not requirednumber of shares of the Company’s common stock equal to the product(rounded down to the nearest whole number) of (i) the number of shares of Legacy AppHarvest common stock subject to such Legacy AppHarvest option and (ii) the Exchange Ratio, at an exercise price per share (rounded up to the nearest whole cent) equal to (A) the exercise price per share of such Legacy AppHarvest option, divided by law and(B) the Exchange Ratio.

Each restricted stock unit awarded by Legacy AppHarvest that was outstanding, whether vested or unvested, was converted into an award of restricted stock units to acquire a number of shares of the Company does not decidecommon stock equal to holdthe product (rounded down to the nearest whole number) of (1) the number of shares of Legacy AppHarvest Common Stock subject to the Legacy AppHarvest restricted stock unit award and (2) the Exchange Ratio.

On the Closing Date, a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons,number of purchasers purchased from the Company will,an aggregate of 37,500 shares of common stock in a private placement pursuant to its Amendedseparate subscription agreement (the “PIPE investment”), for $10.00 per share and Restated Certificatean aggregate purchase price of Incorporation (the “Amended$375,000.

The Company’s certificate of incorporation was amended and Restated Certificaterestated to, among other things, increase the total number of Incorporation”), conduct the redemptions pursuantauthorized shares of all classes of capital stock to the tender offer rules760,000 shares, of the U.S. Securitieswhich 750,000 shares were designated common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and file tender offer documents10,000 shares designated preferred stock, $0.0001 par value per share.

These transactions, together with the SEC containing substantiallyBusiness Combination, are collectively referred to as the same information as would be included in a proxy statement prior to completing a Business Combination. If, however, stockholder approval“Recapitalization Transaction”. Upon closing of the transaction is required by law, or the Company decides to obtain stockholder approval for business or legal reasons, the Company will offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If the Company seeks stockholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the Company received gross proceeds of $475,000, including $375,000 in gross proceeds from the fully committed common stock PIPE.

The consolidated assets, liabilities and results of operations are those of Legacy AppHarvest for all periods presented. However, the equity structure has been recast for all periods presented to reflect the number of shares of the Company’s initialcommon stock, $0.0001 par value per share, issued to Legacy AppHarvest stockholders and EarlyBirdCapital have agreed to vote their Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5), Representative Shares (as defined in Note 7) and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering (a) in favor of approving a Business Combination and (b) not to convert any shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a Business Combination or sell any shares to the Company in a tender offer in connection with a Business Combination. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or do not vote at all.

The initial stockholders and EarlyBirdCapital have agreed (a) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares and Public Shares held by it in connection with the completion of aRecapitalization Transaction. As such, the shares and corresponding capital amounts and losses per share related to Legacy AppHarvest redeemable convertible preferred stock and Legacy AppHarvest common stock prior to the Business Combination (b) to waive their rights to liquidating distributions fromhave been retroactively recast based on shares reflecting the Trust Account with respect toExchange Ratio established in the Founder Shares and Representative Shares if the Company fails to consummate a Business Combination and (c) not to propose an amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation that would affect a public stockholders’ ability to convert or sell their shares to the Company in connection with a Business Combination or affect the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to redeem 100% of its Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination, unless the Company provides the public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares in conjunction with any such amendment.

The Company will have until November 19, 2021 to complete a Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). If the Company is unable to complete a Business CombinationCombination. Activity within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations exceptStatements of Stockholders’ Equity for the purposeissuance of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust AccountLegacy AppHarvest redeemable convertible preferred stock and not previously released to the Company to pay taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining stockholders and the Company’s board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each caseSAFE Note conversion also have been retroactively converted to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below $10.00 per Public Share, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a valid and enforceable agreement with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in or to any monies held in the Trust Account and except as to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsors will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsors will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which the Company does business, execute agreements with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the Trust Account.

Liquidity and Going Concern

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $311,954 in its operating bank accounts, $100,048,410 in securities held in the Trust Account to be used for a Business Combination or to repurchase or redeem its common stock in connection therewith and a working capital deficit of $2,606,959, which excludes franchise and income taxes payable as this amount can be paid from the interest earned in the Trust Account. As of December 31, 2020, approximately $48,000 of the amount on deposit in the Trust Account represented interest income, which is available to pay the Company’s tax obligations.

F-8
stock.


NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2020

The Company will need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from its Sponsor, stockholders, officers, directors, or third parties. The Company’s officers, directors and Sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet the Company’s working capital needs. Accordingly, the Company may not be able to obtain additional financing. If the Company is unable to raise additional capital, it may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. The Company cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to it on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern through November 19, 2021, the date that the Company will be required to cease all operations, except for the purpose of winding up, if a Business Combination is not consummated. These financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recovery of the recorded assets or the classification of the liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.

NOTE 2 — SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”)U.S. GAAP and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.

PrinciplesSecurities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

63

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)








All U.S. Dollar and share amounts are in thousands, except per share amounts, unless otherwise noted. Share and per share amounts are presented on a post-conversion basis for all periods presented, unless otherwise specified.

Nature of Operations

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts ofhigh-tech greenhouse agriculture business is extremely capital-intensive and the Company expects to expend significant resources to complete the build-out of facilities under construction, continue harvesting existing crops and its wholly owned subsidiary. All significant intercompany balancesplant and transactions have been eliminatedharvest new crops in consolidation.

Emerging Growth Company

the existing and future CEA facilities. These expenditures are expected to include working capital, costs of acquiring and building out new facilities, costs associated with planting and harvesting, such as the purchase of seeds and growing supplies, and the cost of attracting, developing and retaining a skilled labor force, including local labor. In addition, other unanticipated costs may arise due to the unique nature of these CEA facilities and increased production in the Company’s single operating facility at full capacity. The Company is an “emerging growth company,”also expects to expend significant resources as definedit invests in Section 2(a) ofCEA technologies and pursues other strategic investments in the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. CEA industry.


The Company has elected notincurred losses from operations and generated negative cash flows from operating activities since inception. The Company expects that its existing cash and credit available under the loan agreements will be sufficient to opt outfund planned operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and any debt service payments through at least the next 12 months from the date of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revisedCompany’s filing of its 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K. However, the operating plan may change because of factors currently unknown, and it has different application dates forthe Company may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private companies,equity or debt financings or other sources, such as strategic collaborations. There can be no assurance that financing will be available to the Company as an emerging growth company, can adopt the newon favorable terms, or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. Thisall. The inability to obtain financing when needed may make comparisonit more difficult for the Company to operate the business or implement its growth plans.
2. Summary of the Company’s financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Significant Accounting Policies

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amountsamount of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and accompanying notes. Although these estimates are based on the reported amountsCompany’s knowledge of revenuescurrent events and expenses duringactions the reporting period.

Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could changeCompany may undertake in the near term due to one or more future, confirming events. Accordingly, the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.

F-9
estimates and assumptions. Significant items subject to such estimates and assumptions include the valuation of inventory, stock-based compensation, and private warrants.


NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER

The Company’s results can also be affected by economic, political, legislative, regulatory, legal actions, and the global volatility and general market disruption resulting from the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (“COVID-19”) and related variants. Economic conditions, such as recessionary trends, inflation, interest and monetary exchange rates, and government fiscal policies, can have a significant effect on operations. While the Company maintains reserves for anticipated liabilities and carries various levels of insurance, the Company could be affected by civil, criminal, environmental, regulatory or administrative actions, claims, or proceedings.

Principles of Consolidation
The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned, majority owned or controlled subsidiaries, collectively referred to as the Company. The Company consolidates entities in which it holds a controlling financial interest. For voting interest entities, the Company is considered to hold a controlling financial interest when it is able to exercise control over the investees’ operating and financial decisions.
At December 31, 2021 and 2020,

the Company does not have interests in any entities that would be considered variable interest entities.

All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform with current period presentation.
64

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







Cash, and Cash Equivalents,

and Restricted Cash

The Company considers all highly liquid, short-term investments with an original maturity date of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents.
The Company did not have anydeposits its cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2020.

Marketable Securities Held in Trust Account

At December 31, 2020, substantially all of the assets held in the Trust Account were held in money market funds.

Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption

The Company accounts for its common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Common stock subject to redemption is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features redemption rights that is either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s common stock features certain redemption rights considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, common stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of the Company’s consolidated balance sheet.

Income Taxes

The Company follows the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes under ASC 740, “Income Taxes.” Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.

ASC 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement process for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefitscommercial bank. From time to be recognized, a tax position must be more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2020. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could resulttime, cash balances in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception.

On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security “CARES” Act into law. The CARES Act includes several significant business tax provisions that, among other things, would eliminate the taxable income limit for certain net operating losses (“NOL) and allow businesses to carry back NOLs arising in 2018, 2019 and 2020 to the five prior years, suspend the excess business loss rules, accelerate refunds of previously generated corporate alternative minimum tax credits, generally loosen the business interest limitation under IRC section 163(j) from 30 percent to 50 percent among other technical corrections included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax provisions. The Company does not believe that the CARES Act will have a significant impact on Company's financial position or statement of operations.

Net Loss per Common Share

Net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted average number of common stock outstanding during the period. Shares of common stock subject to possible redemption at December 31, 2020, which are not currently redeemable and are not redeemable at fair value, have been excluded from the calculation of basic net loss per common share since such shares, if redeemed, only participate in their pro rata share of the Trust Account earnings. The Company has not considered the effect of warrants sold in the Initial Public Offering and the private placement to purchase 13,250,000 shares of common stock in the calculation of diluted loss per share, since the exercise of the warrants are contingent upon the occurrence of future events. As a result, diluted net loss per common share is the same as basic net loss per common share for the period presented.

F-10

NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2020

Reconciliation of Net Loss Per Common Share

The Company’s net loss is adjusted for the portion of income that is attributable to common stock subject to redemption, as these shares only participate in the earnings of the Trust Account and not the income or losses of the Company. Accordingly, basic and diluted loss per common share is calculated as follows:

  

For the Period
from

March 5, 2020

(Inception)
Through
December 31, 2020

 
Net loss $(3,458,412)
Less: Income attributable to common stock subject to possible redemption   
Adjusted net loss  (3,458,412)
     
Weighted average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted  2,959,790 
     
Basic and diluted net loss per common share $(1.17)

Concentration of Credit Risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of a cash account in a financial institution, which, at times, mayaccounts exceed the Federal DepositoryDeposit Insurance Coverage of $250,000.Corporation insured limits. The Company mitigates exposure to credit risk by placing cash and cash equivalents with highly rated financial institutions. To date, the Company has not experienced any losses on this accountin such accounts, and management believes the Companyit is not exposed to any significant riskscredit risk on such account.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The fair valueits cash and cash equivalents.


Restricted cash represents collateral for a promissory note with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (the “JPM Note”) which requires 105% of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualifyaggregate borrowings to be held as financial instruments under ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurement,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet, primarily due to their short-term nature.

Recent Accounting Standards

Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effectcollateral. See Note 10- Debt for more information on the JPM Note.


Accounts Receivable

The Company’s consolidated financial statements.

NOTE 3 — PUBLIC OFFERING

Pursuant totrade accounts receivable are non-interest bearing and are recorded at the Initial Public Offering,net realizable value. The allowance for doubtful accounts represents the Company’s best estimate of the amount of expected credit losses in existing accounts receivable. As of December 31, 2021, the Company sold 10,000,000 Units at a pricehad no allowance for doubtful accounts.


Warrants

At December 31, 2021, there were 13,242 warrants to purchase Common Stock outstanding, consisting of $10.00 per Unit.10,907 public warrants (“Public Warrants”) and 2,335 private warrants (“Private Warrants” and together with Public Warrants, “Warrants”). The Private Warrants are held by the Novus initial stockholders. Each Unit consists of one share of common stock and one warrant (“Public Warrant”). Each whole Public Warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one1 share of common stockCommon Stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 7).

NOTE 4 — PRIVATE PLACEMENT

Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public offering, the Sponsors and EarlyBirdCapital purchased 3,250,000 Private Warrants (2,750,000 private warrants by our Sponsors and/or their designees and 500,000 Private Warrants by EarlyBirdCapital and/or its designees) at a price of $1.00 per Private Warrant. The proceeds from the private placement of the Private Warrants were added to the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering to be held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the proceeds from the sale of the Private Warrants will be used to fund the redemption of the Public Shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law).

NOTE 5 — RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Founder Shares

In March 2020, the initial stockholders purchased 2,875,000 shares (the “Founder Shares”) of the Company’s common stock for an aggregate price of $25,000. The Founder Shares included an aggregate of up to 375,000 shares subject to forfeiture by the initial stockholders to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment was not exercised in full or in part, so that the initial stockholders would collectively own 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering (excluding the Representative Shares). As a result of the underwriters’ election to not exercise their over-allotment option on May 19, 2020, the 375,000 Founder Shares were forfeited.

The initial stockholders have agreed, subject to certain limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Founder Shares until, with respect to 50% of the Founder Shares, the earlier of one year after the consummation of a Business Combination and the date on which the closing price of the common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period commencing after a Business Combination and, with respect to the remaining 50% of the Founder Shares, until the one year after the consummation of a Business Combination, or earlier, in either case, if, subsequent to a Business Combination, the Company completes a liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of the Company’s stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.

F-11

NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2020

Promissory Note — Related Party

In March 2020, the Company issued an unsecured promissory note to Robert J. Laikin, the Company’s Chairman (the “Promissory Note”), pursuant to which the Company may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $150,000. The Promissory Note is non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier of (i) March 1, 2021, (ii) the consummation of the Initial Public Offering or (iii) the date on which the Company determines not to proceed with the Initial Public Offering. The outstanding amount of $97,525 was repaid on May 19, 2020.

Related Party Loans

In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, or certain of the Company’s officers, directors or initial stockholders or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes a Business Combination, the Company would repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans, but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant.share. The warrants would be identical to the Private Warrants.

NOTE 6 — COMMITMENTS

Registration Rights

Pursuant to a registration of rights agreement entered intoexpire on May 19, 2020, the holders of the Founder Shares and Representative Shares, as well as the holders of the Private Warrants and any warrants that may be issued in payment of Working Capital Loans made to the Company (and all underlying securities), are entitled to registration rights. The holders of a majority of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands that the Company register such securities. The holders of the majority of the Founders Shares can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time commencing three months prior to the date on which these shares of common stock are to be released from escrow. The holders of a majority of the Representative Shares, Private Warrants and warrants issued in payment of Working Capital Loans (or underlying securities) can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time after the Company consummates a Business Combination. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, EarlyBirdCapital may only make a demand on one occasion and only during the five-year period beginning on the effective date of the Initial Public Offering. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the consummation of a Business Combination; provided, however, that EarlyBirdCapital may participate in a “piggy-back” registration only during the seven-year period beginning on the effective date of the Initial Public Offering. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

Business Combination Marketing Agreement

The Company has engaged EarlyBirdCapital as an advisor in connection with a Business Combination to assist the Company in holding meetings with its stockholders to discuss the potential Business Combination and the target business’ attributes, introduce the Company to potential investors that are interested in purchasing the Company’s securities in connection with a Business Combination, assist the Company in obtaining stockholder approval for the Business Combination and assist the Company with its press releases and public filings in connection with the Business Combination. The Company will pay EarlyBirdCapital a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of a Business Combination in an amount equal to 3.5% of the gross proceeds of Initial Public Offering, or an aggregate of $3,500,000 (exclusive of any applicable finders’ fees which might become payable); provided that up to 30% of the fee may be allocated at the Company’s sole discretion to other third parties who are investment banks or financial advisory firms not participating in the Initial Public Offering that assist the Company in identifying and consummating a Business Combination. EarlyBirdCapital will also receive a cash fee equal to 1% of the consideration issued to the target business, if a Business Combination is consummated with a target business introduced by EarlyBirdCapital.

Merger Agreement

On September 28, 2020, the Company, Merger Sub, and AppHarvest entered into a business combination agreement and plan of reorganization (the “AppHarvest Business Combination Agreement”), pursuant to which AppHarvest will be merged with and into Merger Sub (the “Merger,” together with the other transactions related thereto, the “Proposed Transactions”), with AppHarvest surviving the Merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Surviving Corporation”).

F-12

NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2020

Immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger (the “Effective Time”), the Company shall assume certain convertible notes issued by AppHarvest after the date of the AppHarvest Business Combination Agreement and before the Effective Time with an aggregate principal balance up to $30,000,000 (the “Company Interim Period Convertible Notes”) and cause the outstanding principal and unpaid accrued interest due on such Company Interim Period Convertible Notes outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time to be automatically converted into a number of shares of Novus Common Stock at a purchase price of $9.50 per share, and such converted Company Interim Period Convertible Notes will no longer be outstanding and will cease to exist. All of the Company Interim Period Convertible Notes converted into shares of Novus Common Stock shall no longer be outstanding and shall cease to exist, any liens securing obligations under the Company Interim Period Convertible Notes shall be released and each holder of Company Interim Period Convertible Notes shall thereafter cease to have any rights with respect to such securities.

At the Effective Time, by virtue of the Merger and without any action on the part of the Company, Merger Sub, AppHarvest or the holders of any of AppHarvest’s securities, each share of AppHarvest Common Stock issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time (including shares of AppHarvest Common Stock resulting from the conversion of AppHarvest Preferred Stock and each AppHarvest restricted share) will be canceled and converted into the right to receive the number of shares of the Company’s common stock (“Novus Common Stock”) equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (a) 50,000,000 by (b) the total number of shares of AppHarvest Common Stock outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time, expressed on a fully-diluted and as-converted to AppHarvest Common Stock basis, and including, without limitation or duplication, the number of shares of AppHarvest Common Stock issuable upon conversion of the AppHravest Preferred Stock, AppHarvest restricted shares, the number of shares of AppHarvest Common Stock subject to unexpired, issued and outstanding AppHarvest RSUs, AppHarvest Options or any other AppHarvest Share Award and the number of shares of AppHravest Common Stock issuable with respect to any issued and outstanding Company Interim Securities, excluding any shares issuable upon the conversion of up to $30 million in aggregate principal amount of Company Interim Period Convertible Notes (the “Exchange Ratio”); provided, however, that each share of Novus Common Stock issued in exchange for AppHarvest restricted shares shall be subject to the terms and conditions giving rise to a substantial risk of forfeiture that applied to such AppHarvest restricted shares immediately prior to the Effective Time to the extent consistent with the terms of such AppHarvest restricted shares.

On September 28, 2020, the Company executed Subscription Agreements with subscribers for the sale of an aggregate of 37,500,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $10.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $375.0 million, in a private placement (the “PIPE”). The closing of the PIPE will occur contemporaneously with the consummation of the Merger.

The Proposed Transactions will be consummated after the required approval by the stockholders of the Company and the satisfaction of certain other conditions as further described in the AppHarvest Business Combination Agreement (see Note 9).

NOTE 7 — STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Preferred Stock The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share with such designation, rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. At December 31, 2020, there were no shares of preferred stock issued or outstanding.

Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue 30,000,000 shares of common stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share. At December 31, 2020, there were 3,414,013 shares of common stock issued and outstanding, excluding 9,235,987 shares of common stock subject to possible redemption.

Warrants — The Public Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (a) 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination or (b) 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering. No warrants will be exercisable for cash unless the Company has an effective and current registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to such shares of common stock. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants is not effective within a specified period following the consummation of a Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, provided that such exemption is available. If that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. The Public Warrants will expire five years after the completion of a Business CombinationJanuary 29, 2026, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

Once the warrants become exercisable, the


The Company may redeem the Public Warrants:

in
In whole and not in part;part

atAt a price of $0.01 per warrant;

F-13
Warrant;

NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2020

uponUpon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption;

if,If, and only if, the reported last sale price of the shares of common stockCommon Stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations and recapitalizations), for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading day period commencing at any time after the warrants become exercisable and ending on the third business day prior to the notice of redemption to warrant holders; and

if, and only if, there is a current registration statement in effect with respect to the shares of common stockCommon Stock underlying the warrants.


If the Company calls the Public Warrants for redemption, management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise the Public Warrants to do so on a “cashless basis,” as described in the warrant agreement.


The Private Warrants are identical to the Public Warrants underlying the Units sold in the Initial Public Offering, except that the Private Warrants and the shares of common stockCommon Stock issuable upon the exercise of the Private Warrants willwere not be transferable, assignable or salable until after the completion of athe Business Combination, subject to certain limited exceptions. Additionally, the Private Warrants will beare exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, at the holder’s option, and be non-redeemableare not redeemable so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees. If the Private Warrants are held by someone other than the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, the Private Warrants will be redeemable by the Company and exercisable by such holders on the same basis as the Public Warrants.

The exercise price and number of shares of common stock issuable on exercise As a result of the warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances includingprovisions in the eventwarrant agreement that provide for differences in the mechanics of a stock dividend, extraordinary dividendcashless exercise dependent upon the characteristics of the warrant holder, and because the holder of a warrant is not an input into the pricing of a fixed-for-fixed option on equity shares, such provisions preclude the Private Warrants from being classified in equity. Accordingly, the Private Warrants are classified as a liability and remeasured at fair value at each reporting date. Changes in fair value of the Private Warrants are recognized in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss. The fair value of the Private Warrants is estimated at each measurement date using a Black-Scholes option pricing model.

65

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







See Note 4 - Fair Value Measurements for inputs used in calculating the estimated fair value. The Public Warrants are equity classified financial instruments.

Derivative Financial Instruments

Derivative financial instruments are used to manage foreign currency, exchange, and interest rate risks. The financial instruments used by the Company are straight-forward, non-leveraged instruments. The counterparties to these financial instruments with strong credit ratings. The Company maintains control over the size of positions entered into with any one counterparty and regularly monitors the credit ratings of these institutions. For all transactions designated as hedges, the hedging relationships are formally documented at the inception and on an ongoing basis in offsetting changes in cash flows of the hedged transaction.

The Company records derivative financial instruments on the consolidated balance sheets as either an asset or our recapitalization, reorganization, mergerliability measured at its fair value. Changes in a derivative fair value (i.e. unrealized gains or consolidation. However, exceptlosses) are recorded each period in earnings unless the derivative qualifies as described below,a hedging instrument. Gains and losses related to a hedge are either recognized in income immediately to offset the warrants willgain or loss on the hedged item, or deferred and recorded in the stockholders’ equity section of the consolidated balance sheets as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss (“AOCL”) and subsequently recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss when the hedged item affects net income. The ineffective portion of the change in fair value of a hedge, if any, is recognized in net loss immediately. For derivative instruments that are not bedesignated as hedges, the gain or loss related to the change in fair value is also recorded to net loss immediately.

Business Combinations

The Company allocates the purchase price of its acquisitions to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based upon their respective fair values at the acquisition date. The Company utilizes management estimates and an independent third-party valuation firm to assist in determining these fair values. The excess of the acquisition price over the estimated fair value of the net assets acquired is recorded as goodwill. Goodwill is adjusted for issuances of shares of common stock at a price below their respective exercise prices. Additionally, in no event will the Company be requiredany changes to net cash settle the warrants. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combinationacquisition date fair value amounts made within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their warrants, nor will they receive any distributionmeasurement period. Acquisition-related transaction costs are recognized separately from the Company’sbusiness combination and expensed as incurred.

Capitalization of Interest

The Company capitalizes interest on capital projects in accordance with ASC 835-20, Capitalization of Interest, which requires the capitalization of interest costs to get certain assets held outside of the Trust Account with the respect to such warrants. Accordingly, the warrants may expire worthless.

In addition, if (x) theready for their intended use. The Company issues additional shares of common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of a Business Combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per share of common stock (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by the Company’s board of directors, and in the case of any such issuance to the initial stockholders or their affiliates, without taking into account any Founder Shares held by them prior to such issuance), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, andcapitalizes interest thereon, available for the funding of a Business Combinationcosts on the date of the consummation of a Business Combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of the Company’s common stockborrowings during the 20 trading dayconstruction period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which the Company consummates Business Combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise priceof major construction projects as part of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the greater of (i) the Market Value or (ii) the price at which the Company issues the additional shares of common stock or equity-linked securities.

Representative Shares

In March 2020, the Company issued to the designees of EarlyBirdCapital 150,000 shares of common stock (the “Representative Shares”). The Company accounted for the Representative Shares as an offering cost of the Initial Public Offering,constructed assets. Capitalization of interest ceases when the project (or discernible portions of the project) is substantially complete. If substantially all of the construction activities of a project are suspended, capitalization of interest will cease until such activities are resumed. During the year ended December 31, 2021, $2,260 of interest expense has been capitalized. No interest was capitalized during the year ended December 31, 2020. See Note 10 - Debt for more information regarding capitalized interest.


Debt Issuance Costs

Debt issuance costs are amortized into interest expense over the terms of the related loan agreements using the effective interest method or other methods which approximate the effective interest method. Debt issuance costs related to debt instruments other than lines of credit are presented on the consolidated balance sheets as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability. Debt issuance costs associated with lines of credit are presented on the consolidated balance sheets as other current or non-current assets.

Goodwill and Other Acquired Intangible Assets

Goodwill is an asset representing the future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a corresponding creditbusiness combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized. Separate identifiable intangible assets are stated at their historical cost and, for those with definite lives, amortized on a straight-line basis over their expected useful lives.

66

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to stockholders’ equity. Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







The Company estimatedconducts annual impairment tests of goodwill on the first day of the fourth quarter and additional impairment reviews when events and circumstances indicate it is more likely than not that an impairment may have occurred. The Company assesses goodwill for impairment at the consolidated level, which represents its single reporting unit. If the fair value of Representative Sharesthe reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, the Company would record an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value, but the loss recognized cannot exceed the amount of goodwill allocated to the reporting unit.

In evaluating goodwill for impairment, the Company has the option to first perform a qualitative assessment to determine whether further impairment testing is necessary or to perform a quantitative assessment by comparing the fair value of its single reporting unit to its carrying amount, including goodwill. A qualitative assessment was performed by the Company on October 1, 2021. Under the qualitative assessment, an entity is not required to calculate the fair value of a reporting unit unless the entity determines that it is more likely than not that its fair value is less than its carrying amount. Qualitative factors include macroeconomic conditions, industry and market conditions, cost factors, and overall financial performance, among others.

Under a quantitative assessment, fair value of the Company’s single reporting unit is estimated using a weighted methodology considering the output from both the income and market approaches. The income approach incorporates the use of a discounted cash flow (“DCF”) analysis. A number of judgments are involved in the application of the DCF model, including projections of business performance, weighted average cost of capital, and terminal values. The market approach is performed using the Guideline Public Companies method which is based on earnings multiple data derived from publicly traded peer group companies.

The Company reviews separately identifiable intangibles held and used for possible impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. In evaluating the fair value and future benefits of its intangible assets, management performs an analysis of the anticipated undiscounted future net cash flow of the intangible assets over the remaining amortization period, if any. The Company recognizes an impairment loss if the carrying value of the asset exceeds the expected future cash flows.

As of December 31, 2021, the Company identified an indicator of impairment and determined it was no longer more likely than not that the fair value of the Company’s sole reporting unit was in excess of the carrying value and that the carrying value of separately identifiable intangible assets was not recoverable. As a result, a quantitative goodwill and separately identifiable intangible asset impairment assessment was performed as of December 31, 2021, and the Company recorded an impairment of the carrying value of goodwill and definite lived intangible asset related to its acquisition of Root AI, Inc. (“Root AI”) on April 7, 2021 (the “Root AI Acquisition”). The December 31, 2021 impairment reflects current market valuations and strategic investment requirements as the Company continues to develop commercial technologies and pursue other strategic investments in the CEA industry.

The following is a roll forward of the goodwill and definite-lived intangible assets activity during the year ended December 31, 2021:

GoodwillDefinite-lived
Intangible Assets
Balance, December 31, 2020$— $— 
Root AI Acquisition50,863 9,754 
Amortization— (716)
Impairment(50,863)(9,038)
Balance, December 31, 2021$— $— 

Inventories
Inventories are valued at the lower of cost (first-in, first-out) or net realizable value. Finished goods inventories represent costs associated with boxed produce not yet sold. Growing crop inventories primarily represent the costs associated with growing produce within the Company’s CEA facilities. Materials and supplies primarily represent growing and packaging supplies. Inventory costs are comprised of the purchase and transportation cost plus production labor and overhead.
67

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)








Property and Equipment
Property and equipment are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Expenditures for additions or renewals and improvements are capitalized; expenditures for maintenance and repairs that neither materially add to the value of the property nor appreciably prolong its economic life are charged to expense as incurred.
Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets, which are as follows:
Building: 25 years
Leasehold and building improvements: the lessor of the lease term or 4 to 10 years.
Machinery: 5 to 10 years
Equipment: 3 to 10 years
Assets held under financing leases are recorded at the net present value of the minimum lease payments, net of incentives provided by the lessor. Depreciation expense for assets held under financing leases is computed using the straight-line method over the shorter of the estimated useful lives of the assets or the period of the related lease. If the related lease contains an option to purchase the underlying asset that the Company is reasonably certain to exercise or the lease transfers ownership of the underlying asset to the Company by the end of the lease term, depreciation expense is computed over the estimated useful life of the asset.
Long-lived tangible assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of a long-lived asset or asset group may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets is measured by comparing the carrying amount of an asset to future undiscounted net cash flows expected to be $1,304 based upongenerated by the priceasset. If such assets are considered to be impaired, the impairment to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the Founder Shares issued toassets exceeds the initial stockholders. The holdersfair value of the Representative Shares have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any such shares until the completion of a Business Combination. In addition, the holders have agreed (i) to waive their redemption rights with respect to such shares in connection with the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to such shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period.

The Representative Shares have been deemed compensation by FINRA and are therefore subject to a lock-up for a period of 180 days immediately following the effective date of the registration statement related to the Initial Public Offering pursuant to Rule 5110(g)(1) of FINRA’s NASD Conduct Rules. Pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110(g)(1), these securities will not be the subject of any hedging, short sale, derivative, put or call transaction that would result in the economic disposition of the securities by any person for a period of 180 days immediately following the effective date of the registration statements related to the Initial Public Offering, nor may they be sold, transferred, assigned, pledged or hypothecated for a period of 180 days immediately following the effective date of the registration statements related to the Initial Public Offering except to any underwriter and selected dealer participating in the Initial Public Offering and their bona fide officers or partners.

F-14

NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2020

NOTE 8 — INCOME TAX

assets. The Company did not record any impairment losses for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.


Leases
The Company determines if an arrangement contains a lease at inception. The right-of-use assets, net and liabilities associated with leases are recognized based on the present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term. The Company uses its incremental borrowing rate at the recognition date in determining the present value of future payments for leases that do not have any significanta readily determinable implicit rate. Lease terms reflect options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the option will be exercised. For leases that include residual value guarantees or payments for terminating the lease, the Company includes these costs in the lease liability when it is probable such costs will be incurred. Right-of-use assets and obligations for short-term leases (leases with an initial term of 12 months or less) are not recognized in the consolidated balance sheet is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Lease expense for short-term leases is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Variable lease expense, which primarily includes taxes and insurance are expensed as incurred. When contracts contain lease and non-lease components, the Company generally accounts for both components as a single lease component.
Income Taxes
The Company recognizes deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been included in the financial statements or liabilities as of December 31, 2020.

The Company’s deferred tax asset is as follows:

  December 31,
2020
 
Deferred tax asset    
Net operating loss carryforward $88,799 
Total deferred tax assets  88,799 
Valuation allowance  (88,799)
Deferred tax asset, net of allowance $ 

The income tax benefit consists of the following:

December 31,
2020
Federal
Current$
returns. Deferred(71,849)
State
Current$
Deferred(16,950)
Change in valuation allowance88,799
Income tax provision$

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $342,139 of U.S. federal and $390,549 of state net operating loss carryovers available to offset future taxable income. The  federal NOL has an indefinite life while the state net operating loss carryovers will expire by 2040.

In assessing the realization of the deferred tax assets management considers whetherand liabilities are determined based on the difference between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to reverse. Valuation allowances are provided, if, based upon the weight of available evidence, it is more likely than not that some portion ofor all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.

When uncertain tax positions exist, the Company recognizes the tax benefit of tax positions to the extent that some or all of the benefit will more likely than not be realized. The ultimate realizationdetermination as to whether the tax benefit will more likely than not be realized is based upon the technical merits of the tax position, as well as consideration of the available facts and circumstances. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company does not have any uncertain tax positions. The Company’s policy is to recognize interest and penalties on uncertain tax positions as income tax expense.
68

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







Retirement Plans
The AppHarvest 401(k) Plan provides for matching contributions. The Company incurred $762 and $105 of expenses associated with the 401(k) Plan for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Stock-Based Compensation

The Company recognizes in its Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss the grant-date fair value of stock options, and restricted stock units (“RSUs”) issued to employees and directors. Stock-based compensation expense related to stock options and time-based RSUs are recognized on a straight-line basis over the associated service period of the award, which is generally the vesting term. Certain restricted stock unit awards are subject to service-, market- and performance-based vesting conditions. The performance criteria for performance-based RSUs are evaluated on a quarterly basis and stock-based compensation is recognized when the performance criteria are determined to be probable. The Company recognizes forfeitures as they occur.
The Company estimates the fair value of market-based RSUs using a Monte-Carlo simulation model. The Company estimates the fair value of its time-based and performance-based RSUs on the fair value of the Common Stock at the date the terms of the awards are mutually agreed upon between the Company and the holder. The Company estimates the fair value of its stock option awards using the Black-Scholes option pricing model, which requires the input of subjective assumptions, including (a) the expected stock price volatility, (b) the calculation of expected term of the award, (c) the risk-free interest rate, and (d) expected dividends. Due to the lack of a public market for the trading of the Company’s Common Stock over an extended period of time, the Company has based its estimate of expected volatility on the trading history of the Company’s common stock and on the historical volatility of a group of similar companies that are publicly traded and have similar characteristics to the Company. The Company believes the group selected has sufficient similar economic and industry characteristics and includes companies that are most representative of the Company.
The Company uses the simplified method as prescribed by the SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 107, Share-Based Payment, to calculate the expected term, as it does not have sufficient historical exercise data to provide a reasonable basis upon which to estimate the expected term for options granted to employees. The expected term is applied to the stock option grant group as a whole, as the Company does not expect substantially different exercise or post-vesting termination behavior among its employee population. The expected term of the stock option awards granted historically was assumed to be the weighted average between the options contract life and the vesting term of the underlying award (based upon the underlying arrangement). The risk-free interest rate is based on a treasury instrument whose term is consistent with the expected life of the stock options.
Development Fee Income from a Related Party
The Company recognized development fee income of $406 during the year ended December 31, 2020, which represented the amortization of a one-time development fee received for limited oversight services the Company performed at Morehead, Kentucky CEA facility construction site when it was owned by Equilibrium Controlled Environment Foods Fund, LLC. The fee was amortized on a straight-line basis, consistent with the timing of the Company’s services, from date of receipt through the project completion date in October 2020. The Company recognized no such income during the year ended December 31, 2021.
Net Loss Per Common Share
The Company’s basic net loss per common share is calculated by dividing the net loss by the weighted-average number of shares of Common Stock outstanding for the period. The diluted net loss per common share is computed by giving effect to all potential Common Stock equivalents outstanding for the period determined using the treasury stock method. For purposes of this calculation, stock options to purchase Common Stock, Warrants and RSUs are considered to be Common Stock equivalents but have been excluded from the calculation of diluted net loss per common share as their effect is anti-dilutive.
Advertising
Advertising costs are expensed when incurred. Advertising expense for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was $382 and $142, respectively, and is included in selling, general, and administrative expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss.
69

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







Revenue

On March 28, 2019, the Company entered into a Purchase and Marketing Agreement (the “Mastronardi Morehead Agreement”) with Mastronardi Produce Limited (“Mastronardi”) pursuant to which Mastronardi will be the sole and exclusive marketer and distributor of all tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, berries and salad greens produced at the Company’s CEA facility in Morehead, Kentucky that meet certain quality standards (collectively, the “Products”). Under the terms of the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement, the Company is responsible for growing, producing, packing, and delivering the Products to Mastronardi, and Mastronardi is responsible for marketing, branding, and distributing the Products to its customers. Mastronardi will pay the Company market prices for the Products that are consistent with the best and highest prices available during the duration of the applicable growing season for like kind U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) Grade No. 1 products. Mastronardi will set the market price for the Products and will pay over to the Company the gross sale price of the Product sold by Mastronardi, less a marketing fee and Mastronardi’s costs incurred in the sale and distribution of the Products. If Mastronardi rejects, returns, or otherwise refuses Products for failure to meet certain quality standards, the Company has the right, at its cost and expense, to sell or otherwise dispose of the Products, subject to certain conditions.

Substantially all of the Company’s revenues are generated from the sale of tomatoes to Mastronardi.

The Mastronardi Morehead Agreement has a term of 10 years. The Company has a limited, one-time right to terminate the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement if certain return targets are not reached. During the term of the Mastronardi Morehead Agreement, Mastronardi has a right of first refusal to enter similar arrangements with regard to any additional growing facilities the Company established in Kentucky or West Virginia.

The Company recognizes revenue at a point in time and at the amount it expects to be entitled to be paid when its performance obligation is complete, which is generally when control of the Products is transferred to its customers upon pick-up by the customer or the customer’s agent from the Company’s facilities. Prices for the Company’s Products are based on agreed upon rates with customers and do not include financing components or noncash consideration. Revenue is recorded net of variable consideration, such as commissions and other shipping, handling and marketing costs incurred as defined in the customer agreements. Revenue is also recorded net of rejections for Products that do not meet quality specifications and net of sales and other taxes collected on behalf of governmental authorities. Payment terms are generally 30 days.
Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”)
Selling, general and administrative expenses primarily consist of payroll and payroll related expenses, stock-based compensation, legal and professional costs, rent expense, marketing and advertising, communications, insurance and various other personnel and office related costs. During the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, $1,000 and $2,214 of start-up expenses related to pre-commencement commercial activities at the CEA facility in Morehead, Kentucky were expensed as incurred by the Company and recorded within SG&A in the consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss.
New Accounting Pronouncements

In December 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2019-12, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes (“ASU 2019-12”). ASU 2019-12 is part of the FASB’s overall simplification initiative to reduce costs and complexity of applying accounting standards while maintaining or improving the usefulness of the information provided to users of financial statements. ASU 2019-12 removes certain exceptions to the general principles of ASC 740, Income Taxes, (“ASU 740”) in order to reduce the cost and complexity of its application in the areas of intraperiod tax allocation, deferred tax liabilities related to outside basis differences, year-to-date losses in interim periods and other areas within ASC 740. The Company adopted ASU 2019-12 on January 1, 2021 and the adoption of ASU 2019-12 did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

No other new accounting pronouncement recently issued or newly effective had or is expected to have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

70

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







3. Business Combinations
Reverse Recapitalization
As discussed in Note 1 - Description of Business, on January 29, 2021, Novus completed the Recapitalization Transaction. The Business Combination is accounted for as a reverse recapitalization in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Under this method of accounting, Novus was treated as the “acquired” company for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, for accounting purposes, the Business Combination was treated as the equivalent of Legacy AppHarvest issuing stock for the net assets of Novus, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of Novus are stated at historical cost, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded.
The following table reconciles the elements of the Business Combination to the consolidated statements of stockholders’ equity and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021:
Recapitalization Transaction
Cash - Novus trust and cash, net of redemptions$99,896 
Cash - PIPE financing375,000 
Non-cash Convertible Note conversion30,808 
Non-cash net liabilities assumed from Novus(2,850)
Less: Fair value of assumed common stock Private Warrants(45,565)
Less: transaction costs allocated to equity(23,762)
Net impact on total stockholders’ equity433,527 
Less: cash payments for transaction costs at Closing Date(2,634)
Less: non-cash Convertible Note conversion(30,808)
Add: non-cash net liabilities assumed from Novus2,850 
Add: non-cash fair value of assumed common stock Private Warrants45,565 
Net impact on net cash provided by financing activities448,500 
Less: transaction costs included in net cash used in operating activities(a)
(13,261)
Total net increase in cash and cash equivalents on Closing Date$435,239 
(a) Including transaction costs in the amount of $2,887 allocated to the Private Warrants.
Root AI Acquisition
On April 7, 2021, the Company completed the Root AI Acquisition.
Total consideration, net of cash acquired, was as follows:
Common Stock issued (2,329 shares at approximately $21.00 per share)$48,991 
Stock options issued to replace unvested Root AI stock options361 
Total equity49,352 
Cash consideration paid for the settlement of vested Root AI stock options230 
Cash consideration paid to Root AI shareholders9,512 
Cash consideration paid to reimburse Root AI for seller transaction costs incurred150 
Cash acquired(136)
Net cash9,756 
Total consideration$59,108 

The Company accounted for its acquisition of Root AI using the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with U.S. GAAP whereby the total purchase price was allocated to tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on respective fair values.

71

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







The purchase price allocation for the Root AI Acquisition was as follows:

Goodwill$50,863 
Intangible assets (technology and intellectual property)9,754 
Deferred taxes(1,420)
Net operating assets and liabilities(89)
   Net assets acquired$59,108 


Goodwill was calculated as the excess of the consideration transferred over the net assets recognized and represents the estimated future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired that could not be individually identified and separately recognized. The factors contributing to the recognition of goodwill were initially based on several strategic and synergistic benefits that were expected to be realized from the Root AI Acquisition. None of the goodwill is deductible for income tax purposes and was entirely allocated to the Company’s sole consolidated reporting unit.

The Root AI Acquisition is expected to provide the Company with a baseline for harvesting support while helping evaluate crop health, predict yield, and optimize overall operations in existing CEA facilities with the potential for commercialization with customers. The benefits include fully developed technology, in the form of software and hardware, that can be programmed for utilization and optimization and a skilled workforce to assist with ongoing upgrades of the artificial intelligence.

The fair value of the intangible assets (technology and intellectual property) was determined using the income approach through a discounted cash flow analysis. The determination of the fair value and the useful life was based upon consideration of market participant assumptions and transaction specific factors.

Transaction costs of $1,032 were included in SG&A expense within the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss for the year ended December 31, 2021.

4. Fair Value Measurements
The company categorizes its assets and liabilities into one of three levels based on the assumptions (inputs) used in determining their values, as defined below:
Level 1: Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.
Level 2: Observable inputs other than Level 1 prices, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets; quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active; or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.
Level 3: Unobservable inputs reflecting management’s assumptions about the inputs used in pricing the asset or liability.

The table below presents the Company’s financial assets and liabilities subject to fair value measurements on a recurring basis and the level of inputs used for each measurement:

Fair Value as of December 31, 2021
Balance Sheet AccountLevel 1Level 2Level 3Total
Assets:
Foreign currency contractsOther assets, net$— $14 $— $14 
Total assets$— $14 $— $14 
Liabilities:
Foreign currency contractsOther current liabilities$— $63 $— $63 
Interest rate swapOther liabilities— 1,657 — 1,657 
Private WarrantsPrivate Warrant liabilities— 1,385 — 1,385 
Total liabilities$— $3,105 $— $3,105 

72

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







The Company’s derivative contracts, including foreign currency forward and option contracts and an interest rate swap, are measured at fair value using valuations based upon quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets (Level 2) and are valued by reference to similar financial instruments, adjusted for terms specific to the contracts. See Note 12 - Derivative Financial Instruments and Note 10 - Debt for more information on the Company’s use of financial instruments.

The Private Warrant liabilities are determined using a Black-Scholes option pricing model, a Level 2 valuation. The significant inputs to the Private Warrant valuation are as follows:
On the Closing Date of the Business CombinationDecember 31, 2021
Exercise price$11.50 $11.50 
Stock price$24.95 $3.89 
Volatility25.0 %54.0 %
Remaining term in years5.00 4.08 
Risk-free rate0.45 %1.12 %
Dividend yield— — 
The following table summarizes the private warrant activity for the year ended December 31, 2021:

Fair value of Private Warrants on the Closing Date$45,565 
Fair value of Private Warrants converted to Public Warrants(5,819)
Change in fair value of Private Warrants(9,826)
Fair value of Private Warrants outstanding as of March 31, 2021$29,920 
Fair value of Private Warrants converted to Public Warrants(3,113)
Change in fair value of Private Warrants(6,488)
Fair value of Private Warrants outstanding as of June 30, 2021$20,319 
Fair value of Private Warrants converted to Public Warrants(201)
Change in fair value of Private Warrants(15,781)
Fair value of Private Warrants outstanding as of September 30, 2021$4,337 
Change in fair value of Private Warrants(2,952)
Fair value of Private Warrants outstanding as of December 31, 2021$1,385 

The Company did not have any assets or liabilities subject to fair value measurements on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2020.

The Warrants are deemed equity instruments for income tax purposes. The changes in the fair value of the Private Warrants may be material to our future operating results.

The Company measures certain assets and liabilities at fair value on a non-recurring basis. Assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis include long-lived and intangible assets which would generally be recorded at fair value as a result of an impairment charge. During 2021, goodwill and intangible assets were valued using Level 3 inputs, which included internal estimates of future cash flows (income approach). Assets acquired and liabilities assumed as part of a business combination are also measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis during the measurement period allowed by the ASC guidance for business combinations, when applicable, see Note 3 - Business Combinations.

Carrying values of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, accounts receivable, inventories, prepaid expenses and other current assets, accounts payable, accrued expenses, and other current liabilities approximate fair values because of their short-term nature.
73

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







5. Inventories, net
December 31, 2021December 31, 2020
Raw materials$1,314 $781 
Growing crops3,684 2,606 
Total inventories, net$4,998 $3,387 
6. Property and Equipment, net
Property and equipment at cost and accumulated depreciation are as follows:
 December 31, 2021December 31, 2020
Land$32,395 $7,277 
Buildings79,450 57,362 
Machinery and equipment49,418 9,581 
Construction in progress186,848 78,174 
Leasehold improvements4,740 871 
Less: accumulated depreciation(8,938)(620)
Total property and equipment, net$343,913 $152,645 
Depreciation expense for property and equipment for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was $9,573 and $176, respectively.
In March 2021, the Company acquired the Morehead CEA facility and related property from Equilibrium Controlled Environment Foods Fund, LLC and its affiliates (“Equilibrium”), a related party at the date of acquisition (See Note 11(a) - Commitments and Contingencies- Equilibrium Transaction). The purchase price for the Morehead CEA facility was $125,000 which was equal to a multiple of Equilibrium’s cost to acquire, develop and construct the Morehead CEA facility. The Morehead CEA facility was placed in service during the year ended December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2020, the buildings asset class included $56,748 related to Morehead CEA facility right-to-use assets held under a finance lease with Equilibrium.

7. Other Assets

December 31, 2021December 31, 2020
Utility deposits$7,479 $— 
Investment in unconsolidated entity5,000 — 
Prepayments for fixed assets2,888 — 
Deferred offering costs— 1,127 
Other assets1,277 61 
Total other assets$16,644 $1,188 
8. Accrued Expenses
 December 31, 2021December 31, 2020
Payroll and related$2,768 $563 
Professional service fees1,944 693 
Construction costs8,467 2,574 
Other accrued liabilities1,154 352 
Utilities1,461 384 
Interest on convertible debt with a related party— 618 
Total accrued expenses$15,794 $5,184 
74

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







9. Note Payable with a Related Party
On September 28, 2020, the Company entered into a convertible promissory note with Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P., a related party, to finance capital investments and operating needs. The Convertible Note had a principal balance of $30,000 and interest at 8.0% per annum. The outstanding principal amount of the Convertible Note and unpaid accrued interest was extinguished at a conversion price equal to $9.50 per share upon the successful closing of the Business Combination. The note principal of $30,000 and accrued interest of $618 were included as current liabilities at December 31, 2020. In connection with the Business Combination on January 29, 2021, the outstanding principal and unpaid accrued interest due was converted into an aggregate 3,242 shares of the Company’s Common Stock, such that the Convertible Note was no longer outstanding and ceased to exist.

10. Debt

On June 15, 2021, the Company entered into a master credit agreement with Rabo AgriFinance LLC (the “Lender”) for a real estate term loan in the original principal amount of $75,000 (the “Rabo Loan”). The Rabo Loan matures on April 1, 2031, with quarterly interest payments commencing on July 1, 2021 and quarterly principal payments, commencing on January 1, 2022, with the remaining balance of principal and interest due upon maturity. Payments are based on one month LIBOR plus 2.500% per annum. The Rabo Loan is collateralized by the business assets of the first Morehead CEA facility and requires compliance with financial covenants. As of December 31, 2021, the Company was in compliance with all covenants.

On June 21, 2021, the Company entered into an interest rate swap with an affiliate of the Lender to make a series of payments based on a fixed rate of 1.602% and receive a series of payments based on LIBOR. Both the fixed and floating payment streams are based on the initial notional amount of $75,000 and require quarterly payments under a twenty-year amortization schedule. As of December 31, 2021, the net fixed interest rate on the combined Rabo Loan and related interest rate swap is 4.102%.

The Rabo Loan is recorded at cost, net of debt issuance costs of $656. During the year ended December 31, 2021, $1,693 of interest expense was recognized on the Rabo Loan, which was all capitalized and included in property, plant and equipment in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet.

On July 23, 2021, the Company entered into a credit agreement with CEFF II AppHarvest Holdings, LLC, an affiliate of Equilibrium, for a construction loan with a principal amount of $91,000 (the “Construction Loan”) for the development of a CEA facility in Richmond, Kentucky (the “Project”). The Construction Loan provides monthly disbursements to fund capital costs of the Project in excess of the Company’s required equity contribution of 34.5% of the capital costs of the Project. The Construction Loan requires monthly interest payments based on drawn capital costs at an initial interest rate of 8.000% per annum, which will increase on a monthly basis by 0.2% per annum, beginning two years after closing of the Construction Loan through maturity, which is expected to be July 23, 2024, with no required principal payments until maturity. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had $31,944 outstanding on the Construction Loan, included in non-current liabilities at December 31, 2021, and had incurred interest expense of $477, which was all capitalized as part of the construction asset and included in property, plant and equipment in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet. The Company incurred $382 of debt issuance costs related to the Construction Loan, which are included in non-current assets on the balance sheet.

On September 27, 2021, the Company entered into the JPM Note with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., (the “Bank”) providing for a line of credit facility in the maximum amount of $25,000 (the “JPM Loan”) for capital expenditures and CEA facility construction and improvements. The JPM Loan matures on September 24, 2022. The interest rate on the JPM Loan approximates one-month LIBOR plus 2.25%. As of December 31, 2021, the Company has borrowed $24,335 under the JPM Loan and the interest rate was 2.375%. The JPM Loan requires 105% of the aggregate borrowings to be held as cash collateral. At December 31, 2021 the Company had $25,556 of restricted cash on the consolidated balance sheet to meet this requirement. Interest expense of $90 was recognized during the year ended December 31, 2021 and was capitalized as part of property, plant and equipment in the consolidated balance sheet. The JPM Note was subsequently amended in January 2022. See Note 17 - Subsequent Events for more information.

75

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







A summary of the carrying value of the debt is as follows:

December 31, 2021
Rabo Loan$75,000 
Construction Loan31,944 
JPM Loan24,335 
Unamortized debt issuance costs(622)
Debt, net of issuance costs130,657 
Less current portion(28,020)
Long term, net$102,637 

As of December 31, 2021, the carrying value of debt under the Rabo Loan, JPM Loan, and Construction Loan approximates fair value due to the short term nature of the debt or that such borrowings bear variable interest rates that correspond to current market rates.

The principal requirements of debt maturing in the next five years are:

20222023202420252026
Debt maturities by year$28,085 $3,750 $35,694 $3,750 $3,750 

11. Commitments and Contingencies
(a)Equilibrium Transactions
On April 15, 2019, the Company entered into a mortgage loan with Equilibrium, a related party at the time, to finance the purchase of land from a third party in Morehead, Kentucky (the “Morehead Land”). The loan had a principal balance of $3,481 and bore interest at 8.00% per year.

On May 13, 2019, the Company entered a series of agreements with Equilibrium, resulting in the sale of the legal entity that was established to purchase the Morehead Land. The net assets of the entity sold to Equilibrium included the land, related permitting and the mortgage note owed to Equilibrium. On that same date, the Company also entered into a Master Lease Agreement (the “Master Lease Agreement”) with Morehead Farm LLC (“Morehead Farm”) for an indoor controlled agriculture facility on a portion of the Morehead Land (the “Morehead Facility”). The Master Lease Agreement had an initial term of 20 years commencing at substantial completion of construction and included a ground lease for the Morehead Land.

In October 2020, the Company took occupancy of the completed portion of the Morehead Facility, resulting in lease commencement under the Master Lease Agreement. Lease payments under the Master Lease Agreement consisted of a base rent calculated as a percentage of defined construction costs, certain non-lease costs and rent based on gross revenues generated from the Morehead Facility. During the term of the Master Lease Agreement, the Company had a right of first refusal to purchase the Morehead Land. The Company accounted for the transfer of the Morehead Land to Equilibrium in 2019 as a financing transaction.

At December 31, 2020, the Company maintained a finance lease liability with Equilibrium of $59,216 related to the completed portion of the Morehead Facility and a related right-of-use asset at cost of $56,748. At December 31, 2020, the Company also had construction-in-progress assets of $54,649, and a corresponding financing obligation of $58,795 with Equilibrium for the portion of the Morehead Facility that was under construction. The finance lease liability and financing obligation related to the Morehead Facility were recorded within current liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2020.

On March 1, 2021, the Company closed on the Membership Interest Purchase and Sale Agreement (the “MIPSA”) with Equilibrium that was entered into in December 2020, pursuant to which it purchased from Equilibrium 100% of its membership interests in its subsidiary, Morehead Farm LLC.
76

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)








At closing, Morehead Farm LLC, which owns the Morehead CEA facility, became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. Concurrently with the closing of the MIPSA, the Master Lease Agreement dated May 13, 2019 with Morehead Farm LLC to lease the Morehead CEA facility and ancillary agreements related thereto, was terminated. As a result, the closing date balances of $66,504 for the financing obligation related to construction in progress assets and $58,496 for the finance lease liability related to the completed portion of the Morehead CEA facility were settled and de-recognized from the Company’s consolidated balance sheet.

On May 12, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement with Equilibrium, a related party, at that time, to finance the purchase of equipment to be used in the Company’s operations in Morehead, Kentucky. The loan agreement had an original principal balance of $2,000 and an interest rate of 9.5% per year. Upon establishment of the finance lease liability for the Morehead CEA facility lease in October, 2020, the principal balance of the loan was extinguished and added to the future base rent calculation to be paid over the term of the lease liability, which was settled and de-recognized as described above. The original proceeds from the loan are included in the financing section of the statement of cash flows as of December 31, 2021.
(b)Other Leases
The Company’s other lease portfolio is primarily comprised of operating leases for offices. At the inception of an arrangement, the Company determines whether the arrangement is or contains a lease based on whether the contract conveys the right to control the use of identified property, plant or equipment for a period of time in exchange for consideration. Leases are classified as operating or finance leases at the commencement date of the lease.
Operating lease right-of-use assets, net and liabilities are recognized within the Consolidated Balance Sheets based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. As the implicit rate is generally not readily determinable for most leases, the Company uses an incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments. The incremental borrowing rate reflects the estimated rate of interest that the Company would pay to borrow on a collateralized basis over a similar term in a similar economic environment. Lease expense for operating leases is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term.
Leases may include renewal options, and the renewal option is included in the lease term if the Company concludes that it is reasonably certain that the option will be exercised. A certain number of the Company’s leases contain rent escalation clauses, either fixed or adjusted periodically for inflation of market rates, that are factored into the calculation of lease payments to the extent they are fixed and determinable at lease inception.
For the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company recognized $1,485 and $169, respectively, of operating lease expense, of which $954 and $169 was recognized within SG&A, and $531 and $0 within COGS, respectively, in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss. Short-term lease expense was $940 in 2021 and immaterial for 2020. Variable lease expense for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was immaterial.
77

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







The future minimum rental payments required under the leases for each year of the next five years ending December 31, and in the aggregate thereafter are as follows:
 Operating
leases
2022$1,132 
20231,190 
20241,089 
20251,030 
20262,228 
2027 and thereafter432 
Total minimum payments required7,100 
Less: imputed interest costs(1)
(1,411)
Present value of net minimum lease payments(2)
$5,689 
Weighted-average imputed interest rate7.18 %
Weighted-average remaining lease term6.1
___________________________________________
(1)Represents the amount necessary to reduce net minimum lease payments to present value using actual rate in the lease agreement or the Company’s incremental borrowing rate at lease inception.
(2)Included in the Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2021 as current and non-current lease liability of $751 and $4,938, respectively.
Supplemental Consolidated Statement of Cash Flow information is as follows for the years ended December 31:
20212020
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities$552 $96 
Operating lease right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for new operating lease liabilities$3,989 $1,441 
(c)Agreements with Dalsem
The Company entered into agreements with Dalsem Greenhouse Technology, B.V. (“Dalsem”) for the construction of new greenhouse facilities in Richmond, Kentucky and Berea, Kentucky on November 20, 2020 and December 11, 2020, respectively. Under terms of the agreements, Dalsem will provide certain services related to the design, engineering, procurement, construction, startup and testing of a greenhouse and certain ancillary facilities at each site. Total costs under the agreements are based on actual costs incurred by Dalsem and payments are due upon the completion of certain established project milestones, with a portion of each payment due in Euros and a portion due in U.S. dollars. Either party is entitled to terminate the agreements upon the occurrence of certain events of default and the Company is entitled to terminate the agreements if Dalsem fails to meet certain performance requirements. The Company may also terminate the agreements without cause with written notice and a termination payment to Dalsem.
(d)Purchase Commitments
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company entered into an agreement with its natural gas supplier to purchase a portion of its anticipated future natural gas usage at fixed prices. The unrecorded purchase commitments as of December 31, 2021, were $915, and will be realized within the next twelve months. There were no purchase commitments that were unrecorded at December 31, 2020.
78

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







(e) Litigation

The Company is involved in various lawsuits, claims and other legal matters from time to time that arise in the ordinary course of business. The Company records a liability when a particular contingency is probable and estimable.

On September 24, 2021, a federal securities class action lawsuit (captioned Ragan v. AppHarvest, Inc.) was filed by a purported stockholder of the Company in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of a proposed class consisting of those who acquired the Company’s securities between May 17, 2021 and August 10, 2021. The complaint names the Company and certain of its current officers as defendants, and alleges that the defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, by making materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and prospects because they failed to disclose a purported lack of sufficient training and inability to consistently produce Grade No. 1 tomatoes. The complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages on behalf of the putative class and an award of costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees. On December 13, 2021, the court consolidated the cases, and appointed a lead plaintiff. We do not believe the claims have merit, intend to defend the case vigorously, and have not recorded a liability related to these lawsuits because, at thistime, we are unable to estimate reasonably possible losses or determine whether an unfavorable outcome is probable.

12. Derivative Financial Instruments

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company entered into foreign currency forward and option contracts to hedge certain cash flows related to anticipated expenditures related to the construction of its Berea, Kentucky and Richmond, Kentucky CEA facilities. These contracts, which have maturities ranging through December 2022, qualify as cash flow hedges and are used to hedge the Company’s foreign currency risk associated with the Euro denominated payments due upon the completion of established project milestones under the applicable CEA facility construction contracts. As of December 31, 2021, the total notional amount outstanding of foreign currency contracts designated as cash flow hedging instruments was €19,149. The Company maintains collateral of $3,710 for the hedge program which is included in prepaid expenses and other current assets in the consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2021.
The Company has elected to measure hedge effectiveness using the spot method under which the hedging relationship is considered perfectly effective and changes in the fair value of the forward and options contracts attributable to changes in the spot rate are recorded as a component of other AOCL. As the hedged items are ultimately capitalized as part of the CEA facility fixed assets, the AOCL amounts will be reclassified into earnings over the same periods as the future depreciation expense related to those assets. Consistent with the allocation of CEA facility fixed asset depreciation, the AOCL reclassification will also be allocated between cost of goods sold (“COGS”) and SG&A within the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Loss.
Under the spot method, changes in the fair value of forward contracts attributable to changes in the difference between the forward rate and the spot rate (forward points) and the fair value of option contracts attributable to time and volatility values (up-front premium) will be excluded from the measure of hedge effectiveness and amortized as COGS and SG&A on a straight-line basis over the terms of the underlying contracts. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recognized amortization expense of $504 related to its foreign currency hedge contracts within the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Loss.

As of December 31, 2021, the Company had a net liability of $49 in foreign currency contracts designated as cash flow hedging instruments, which is included in other current and non-current liabilities according to the expected settlement dates of the related contracts.

On June 21, 2021, the Company entered into an interest rate swap which has been designated as an effective cash flow hedge and changes in the fair value are recorded as a component of AOCL in the consolidated balance sheet and reclassified into earnings as interest expense over the life of the debt. See Note 10 - Debt for more information on the interest rate swap.`    

79

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







The following table summarizes the before and after tax amounts for the various components of other comprehensive loss for the periods presented:
Year Ended December 31, 2021
Before TaxTax (Expense)
Benefit
After Tax
Foreign Currency$(294)$— $(294)
Interest Rate Swap(1,657)— (1,657)
   Total AOCL$(1,951)$— $(1,951)

The income tax benefit of $521 related to the $1,951 balance in AOCL at December 31, 2021 is fully offset by a valuation allowance established on the related deferred income tax asset. The Company will release the AOCL amounts, net of any tax impact, from the foreign currency contracts, and the interest rate swap in the periods that the underlying transactions impact earnings as described above.
13. Income Taxes
For the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company incurred net operating losses and, accordingly, no current provision for income taxes has been recorded. Deferred income tax expense for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 consisted of the following components:
20212020
Deferred income tax expense:
Federal$920 $
State69 
Total deferred income tax expense989 
Income tax expense$989 $
The reconciliation of the statutory income tax with the provision for income taxes are as follows for the years ended December 31:
 20212020
Loss before income taxes$(165,197)$(17,439)
Income tax benefit at U.S. Federal statutory rate(34,691)(3,662)
Permanent items10,268 211 
Change in valuation allowance30,349 4,122 
State income taxes, net of U.S. Federal income tax benefit(4,940)(662)
Other— 
Income tax expense$989 $
The Company has considered the impact of state rate changes, apportionment weighting and state filing positions when determining its state effective tax rate. The Company adjusts its state effective tax rate for enacted law changes during the year.
80

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







Deferred income taxes reflect the net tax effects of temporary differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for income and for tax carryforwards. Significant components of the Company’s deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which temporary differences representing net future deductible amounts become deductible. Management considers the scheduled reversal of deferred taxand liabilities projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment. After consideration of all of the information available, management believes that significant uncertainty exists with respect to futureare as follows:
 December 31,
 20212020
Deferred tax assets:  
Net operating loss carryforwards$29,340 $4,857 
Stock-based compensation3,170 — 
Lease liabilities1,521 15,680 
Financing obligation— 15,582 
Other2,933 20 
 $36,963 $36,137 
Valuation allowance(35,792)(4,922)
 $1,171 $31,216 
Deferred tax liabilities:
Property, plant and equipment$(2,250)$(30,879)
Operating lease right-of-use assets(1,339)(350)
(3,589)(31,229)
Net deferred tax liabilities$(2,418)$(13)
When realization of the deferred tax asset is more likely than not to occur, the benefit related to the deductible temporary differences attributable to operations is recognized as a reduction of income tax expense. Valuation allowances are provided against deferred tax assets when, based on all available evidence, it is considered more likely than not that some portion or all of the recorded deferred tax assets will not be realized in future periods. The Company cannot be certain that future taxable income will be sufficient to realize its deferred tax assets, and accordingly, a valuation allowance of $35,792 and $4,922 have been provided on the net deferred tax assets as of December 31, 2021 and 2020. The valuation allowance increased $30,870 during the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily as a result of an increase in net operating loss carryforwards. The Company continues to monitor the need for a valuation allowance based on the sources of future taxable income.
At December 31, 2021, the Company has therefore$118,031 of federal and $117,965 of state net operating loss carryforwards that have no expiration. Under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards are subject to review and possible adjustment by the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities. Net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards may be subject to an annual limitation in the event of certain cumulative changes in the ownership interest of significant stockholders by more than 50% over a three-year period, as defined in Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code and similar state provisions. The amount of the annual limitation is determined based on the value of the Company immediately before the ownership change. Subsequent ownership changes may further affect the limitation in future years. The Company has not yet completed a study to assess whether a change of control has occurred or whether there have been multiple changes of control since the date of the Company’s formation and Root AI Acquisition, and there could be additional changes in control in the future. As a result, the Company is unable to estimate the effect of these limitations, if any, on the Company’s ability to utilize net operating losses in the future. A valuation allowance has been provided against the Company’s net operating and tax credit carryforwards and, if an adjustment is required, this adjustment would be offset by an adjustment to the deferred tax asset established a fullfor the net operating loss carryforward and the valuation allowance. For the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) through

81

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020 the change
(amounts in the valuation allowance was $88,799.

thousands, except per share amounts)








A reconciliation of the federal incomeU.S. statutory tax rate to the Company’s effective tax rate atis as follows:

December 31,
20212020
Statutory tax rate$(34,691)21.0 %$(3,662)21.0 %
State tax - deferred, net of federal impact(4,940)3.0 %(662)3.8 %
Permanent items10,268 (6.2)%211 (1.2)%
Change in valuation allowance30,349 (18.4)%4,122 (23.6)%
Other3— %— — %
Total taxes$989 (0.6)%$— %

As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, is as follows:

December 31,
2020
Statutory federal income tax rate21.0%
State taxes, net of federal tax benefit4.3%
Business Combination expenses(22.8)%
Valuation allowance(2.6)%
Income tax provision0.1%

the Company had no accrued uncertain tax positions or associated interest or penalties and no amounts have been recognized in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss.

The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction in variousand state and local jurisdictions and is subject to examination by the various taxing authorities.jurisdictions. The Company’s tax returnsyears since inception remain open and subject to examination. examination by federal and state taxing authorities.
14. Stock Compensation and Other Benefit Plans

Equity Incentive Plan

On January 29, 2021, stockholders approved the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan, (the “Plan”), replacing the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, (the “2018 Plan”), pursuant to which the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) may grant stock awards, including stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, RSUs and other stock-based awards, to officers, key employees, and directors. The Plan allows for non-employee director grants, which are accounted for in the same manner as employee awards. There are 10,027 registered shares of Common Stock reserved for issuance under the Plan. During the year ended December 31, 2021, 6,589 awards were granted under the Plan, including 6,541 RSUs and 48 stock options granted as consideration in the Root AI Acquisition (see Note 3 - Business Combinations for more information). The RSU’s granted under the Plan include 2,937 executive awards with market and performance-based vesting requirements in addition to the typical service-based vesting requirements.
As of December 31, 2021, there are 4,558 registered shares of Common Stock reserved for issuance upon exercise or settlement, as applicable, of awards made under the 2018 Plan. While no further awards may be granted under the 2018 Plan, that plan continues to govern all outstanding awards previously issued under it.
Vesting of the RSUs issued under the 2018 Plan (“2018 RSUs”) was dependent on a liquidity event, the Business Combination, which occurred on January 29, 2021. Accordingly, the Company recognized a one-time stock-based compensation expense of $2,616 as of that date as a retroactive catch-up of cumulative stock-based compensation expense for such awards from their original grant dates. Total stock-based compensation expense related to 2018 RSU’s was $13,291 during the year ended December 31, 2021.As of December 31, 2021, the Company had 1,308 granted but unvested 2018 RSU’s with unrecognized stock-based compensation expense of $6,533 remaining, and 5,017 granted but unvested 2021 RSU’s with unrecognized stock-based compensation expense of $47,247. The weighted average period over which RSU expense is expected to be recognized is 1.2 years.
Total stock-based compensation expense was $40,910 for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $154 for the year ended December 31, 2020, respectively. Of these amounts, $39,030 were included in SG&A and $1,880 in COGS for the year ended December 31, 2021, respectively and $154 was recognized in SG&A and none in COGS for the year ended December 31, 2020, respectively.
82

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







The Company considers Indianaissues stock options in two forms. The incentive stock options (“ISO”) that have been granted generally vest over 48 months, with 25% vesting at the end of the first year and ratable vesting thereafter for the next 36 months. The nonqualified stock options (“NSO”) that have been granted vest ratably over 10 to be a significant state tax jurisdiction.

NOTE 9 — FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS 

30 months. The ISOs and NSOs generally expire ten years after the date of grant.


The Company followsuses the guidance in ASC 820 for its financial assets and liabilities that are re-measured and reported atBlack-Scholes option-pricing model to calculate the fair value at each reporting period, and non-financial assets and liabilities that are re-measured and reported atof the options granted. The grant date fair value at least annually. 

was based on the following assumptions used within the Black-Scholes option pricing model for the year ended December 31, 2020:
F-15
2020
Expected term5.80
Risk-free interest rate0.41 %
Expected volatility49.45 %
Expected dividend yield— %

NOVUS CAPITAL CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBERThe options issued in consideration of the acquisition of Root AI were valued based on the stock price at the date of acquisition. Aside from the options issued during the acquisition of Root AI as discussed above, there were no other options issued during the year ended December 31, 2021.

The following table summarizes stock option activity for the year ended December 31, 2021:
OptionsSharesWeighted average exercise
price
Average remaining
contractual term
Outstanding at December 31, 20202,978 $0.33 8.71
Granted48 0.56 
Exercised(135)0.32 
Forfeited or expired(83)0.58 
Outstanding at December 31, 20212,808 $0.33 7.79
Exercisable, December 31, 20211,996 0.30 7.60
The Company recorded $236 and $154 of stock-based compensation expense for options issued to employees and directors during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020,

The respectively. As of December 31, 2021, unrecognized stock-based compensation expense of $320, is related to non-vested options granted, which is anticipated to be recognized over the next weighted average 0.80 years, commensurate with the remaining requisite service period.


Aggregate intrinsic value represents the estimated fair value of the Company’s financial assetscommon stock at the end of the period in excess of the weighted average exercise price multiplied by the number of options outstanding or exercisable. The intrinsic value for all outstanding options as of December 31, 2021 was $10,002 and liabilities reflects management’s estimate$7,165 for those awards exercisable. The intrinsic value of options forfeited was $0 and $472 in the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.
The weighted average grant date fair value of options granted during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was $17.74 and $0.33, respectively. The total intrinsic value of options exercised in the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 was $751 and $2,100, respectively. The Company uses authorized and unissued shares to satisfy award exercises.
83

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company granted RSUs to directors, officers, and employees. The following table summarizes RSU activity for the year ended December 31, 2021:
RSUsUnitsWeighted average grant
date fair value
Outstanding at December 31, 20202,545 $9.07 
Granted6,568 14.74 
Vested(955)10.29 
Forfeited or cancelled(1,793)12.21 
Unvested at December 31, 20216,365 $13.68 
Certain RSUs contain performance and service vesting conditions, and the related stock-based compensation is recognized using an accelerated attribution method. The requisite service period for the RSUs outstanding at December 31, 2021, is 48 months, with 25% vesting at the end of the first year and ratable vesting every 3 months thereafter for the next 36 months.

Total stock-based compensation recognized in 2021 related to the market-based RSUs was $15,168 which is recorded within SG&A. Total stock-based compensation recognized in 2021 for time-based RSUs was $25,273.

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

On January 29, 2021, stockholders approved the 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, (the “ESPP”). The ESPP provides eligible employees with a means of acquiring equity in the Company at a discounted price using their own accumulated payroll deductions. Under the terms of the ESPP employees can elect to have amounts of their annual compensation withheld, up to a maximum set by the board, to purchase shares of Company Common Stock for a purchase price equal to 85% of the lower of the fair market value per share (at the end of the offering period) of Company Common Stock on (i) the offering date or (ii) the respective purchase date. There are 2,005 shares of Common Stock reserved for issuance under the ESPP. During the year ended December 31, 2021, 39 shares were purchased under the ESPP.

The ESPP grants participating employees the right to acquire Company Common Stock in increments of 1% to 15% of eligible pay, with a maximum contribution of $25 of eligible pay subject to applicable tax limitations. The first offering period of the Company’s ESPP commenced on June 1, 2021 and concluded December 1, 2021. The second offering period began December 1, 2021 and is six months in duration.

The Company uses a Black-Scholes option pricing model to value the Common Stock purchased as part of the Company’s ESPP. The fair value estimated by the option pricing model are affected by the price of the Common Stock as well as subjective variables that include assumed interest rates, our expected dividend yield, and our expected share price volatility over the term of the award. The Company records stock-based compensation expense, within SG&A or COGS related to the discount given to our participating employees. Total stock-based compensation expense recorded for the ESPP during the year ended December 31, 2021 was $80.
The estimated fair value of employee stock purchase rights under the Company’s ESPP was determined on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option valuation model with the following weighted-average assumptions for stock option grants:
Year Ended December 31, 2021
Offering date closing price$16.90 
Term in years0.5
Volatility70.00 %
6 month risk-free rate0.04 %
Purchase discount15.00 %
84

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







15. Common Stock
The voting, dividend, and liquidation rights of the holders of common stock are subject to and qualified by the rights, powers, and preferences of the holders of preferred stock. The common stock has the following characteristics:
Voting
The holders of common stock are entitled to 1 vote for each share of common stock held at all meetings of stockholders and written actions in lieu of meetings.
Dividends
The holders of common stock are entitled to receive dividends, if and when declared by the Board. The Company may not declare or pay any cash dividends to the holders of common stock unless, in addition to obtaining any necessary consents, dividends are paid on each series of preferred stock in accordance with their respective terms. No dividends have been declared or paid in the year ended December 31, 2021 or 2020.

Common Stock Reserved for Future Issuance

The Company has reserved 49,433 and 33,868 shares of common stock for future issuance as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Common Stock Purchase Agreement

On December 15, 2021, the Company entered into a Common Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) and a Registration Rights Agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) with B. Riley Principal Capital, LLC (“B. Riley Principal Capital”). Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, the Company has the right to sell to B. Riley Principal Capital, up to the lesser of (i) $100,000 of newly issued shares of the Company’s common stock, and (ii) the Exchange Cap (as defined below) (subject to certain conditions and limitations), from time to time during the 24-month term of the Purchase Agreement. Sales of Common Stock pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, and the timing of any sales, are solely at the option of the Company, and the Company is under no obligation to sell any securities to B. Riley Principal Capital under the Purchase Agreement.

The per share purchase price for the shares of Common Stock that the Company would elects to sell to B. Riley Principal Capital in a Purchase pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, if any, will be determined by reference to the volume weighted average price of the Company’s common stock as defined within the Purchase Agreement, less a variable discount ranging from 3% to 5%. The Company cannot issue to B. Riley Principal Capital more than 20,143 shares of Common Stock, which number of shares is equal to 19.99% of the shares of the Common Stock outstanding immediately prior to the execution of the Purchase Agreement, except in limited circumstances.

The net proceeds under the Purchase Agreement to the Company will depend on the frequency and prices at which the Company sells shares of its stock to B. Riley Principal Capital.

As consideration for B. Riley Principal Capital’s commitment to purchase shares of Common Stock at the Company’s direction upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Purchase Agreement, upon execution of the Purchase Agreement, the Company issued 197,628 shares of Common Stock to B. Riley Principal Capital. Expense of $1,006 related to these shares was recognized within SG&A in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive Loss.
16. Net Loss Per Common Share
Diluted net loss per common share is the same as basic loss per common share for all periods presented because the effects of potentially dilutive items were anti-dilutive given the Company’s net loss. The following common share equivalent securities
85

AppHarvest, Inc.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
December 31, 2021 and 2020
(amounts in thousands, except per share amounts)







have been excluded from the calculation of weighted-average common shares outstanding because the effect is anti-dilutive for the periods presented:
 December 31,
Anti-dilutive common share equivalents:20212020
Stock options2,808 2,978 
Restricted stock units6,325 2,545 
Warrants13,242 — 
Total anti-dilutive common share equivalents22,375 5,523 
Basic and diluted net loss per common share is calculated as follows:
 Year Ended December 31,
 20212020
Numerator:  
Net loss$(166,186)$(17,448)
Denominator:
Weighted-average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted95,571 38,072 
Net loss per common share, basic and diluted$(1.74)$(0.46)
17. Subsequent Events
On January 10, 2022, the Company entered into an amended and restated JPM Note (the “Amended Note”) with the Bank. This amendment increased the existing line of credit from $25 million to $50 million and implemented the secured overnight financing rate (“SOFR”) as the replacement of LIBOR as a benchmark interest rate for U.S. dollar borrowings.

During the first quarter of 2022, the Company initiated a restructuring plan to reduce operating costs and improve profitability. The Company estimates the restructuring charges, which consist of one-time severance charges in addition to consulting and other costs, will be approximately $2.0 million to be recorded in the first quarter of 2022. The Company anticipates the cost savings from the restructuring plan will support growth-related initiatives and help meet the long-term goals and liquidity needs of the Company.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act as of the end of the year ended December 31, 2021. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer and accounting officer have concluded that as of December 31, 2021, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable assurance level and, accordingly, provided reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in reports filed under the Exchange Act is (1) recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and (2) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer or person performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Limitations on Controls and Procedures

In designing and evaluating our disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives
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of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Additionally, in designing disclosure controls and procedures, our management necessarily was required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible disclosure controls and procedures. The design of any system of controls also is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions; over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate. Because of the inherent limitations in a control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f). Our internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our CEO and CFO to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our CEO and CFO, our management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth, in the Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission ("COSO"). Management’s assessment included an evaluation of the design of our internal control over financial reporting and testing of the operational effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Based on management’s assessment, management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2021 based on those criteria.

Ernst & Young LLP, the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, has audited the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021 as stated in their report, which appears herein.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting in the quarter ended December 31, 2021 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.

Item 9B. Other Information

The Board ratified the appointment of Julie Nelson as Chief Operating Officer of the Company on February 28, 2022.

There is no arrangement or understanding between Ms. Nelson and any other person pursuant to which she was selected as an officer of the Company, and there is no family relationship between Ms. Nelson and any of the Company’s other directors or executive officers. The Company is not aware of any transaction involving Ms. Nelson requiring disclosure under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K. Ms. Nelson’s biography is included in Part III, Item 10 of this Annual Report.

On February 25, 2022, the Company entered into an offer letter with Ms. Nelson (the “Offer Letter”). Pursuant to the Employment Agreement, Ms. Nelson will receive an annual base salary of $350,000 and will be eligible: (i) to participate in the Company’s benefit plans; (ii) for reimbursement of up to $50,000 in relocation expenses incurred in 2021 in connection with her relocation to the Lexington, Kentucky area; and (iii) for an annual discretionary cash bonus. Ms. Nelson will also be eligible under the Employment Agreement to receive future awards of stock options or other equity awards, subject to the approval of the Board or its compensation committee.

The foregoing summary of the Offer Letter does not purport to be complete and is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text and complete terms of the Offer Letter, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit 10.35, and is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 9c. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections

Not applicable.

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Part III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

Board of Directors

Our directors as of the date of this Annual Report were as follows:

Jonathan Webb, age 36,is our founder and has served as AppHarvest’s President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of AppHarvest’s Board since AppHarvest’s incorporation in January 2018. Mr. Webb ceased serving as AppHarvest’s President in January 2021. From 2014 to February 2017, Mr. Webb served as contract support with Archetype USA for the U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives through the U.S. Department of Defense. Mr. Webb received a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Kentucky.

We believe that Mr. Webb is qualified to serve on the Board because of his deep knowledge of our company and his industry experience.

David Lee, age 50,has served as AppHarvest’s President since January 2021 and a member of AppHarvest’s Board since August 2020. Mr. Lee serves as a director of Benson Hill, a publicly traded food technology company, since January 2021. From December 2015 to January 2021, Mr. Lee served as the Chief Financial Officer of Impossible Foods Inc. From December 2015 to March 2019, Mr. Lee also served as the Chief Operating Officer of Impossible Foods Inc. From 2014 to December 2015, Mr. Lee served as the Chief Financial Officer of Zynga Inc. Mr. Lee received a B.A. in Government from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

We believe that Mr. Lee is qualified to serve on the Board because of his extensive executive, financial and operational expertise within the agriculture industry, including his experience as the chief financial officer of a public company.

Kiran Bhatraju, age 36,has served as a member of AppHarvest’s Board since January 2018. Mr. Bhatraju currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Arcadia Power, Inc., a company he founded in 2014. Mr. Bhatraju received a B.A. in Political Science and Literature from the University of Pennsylvania.

We believe that Mr. Bhatraju is qualified to serve on our Board because of his extensive experience in the clean energy industry.

Ciara A. Burnham, age 55, has served as a member of AppHarvest’s Board since April 2021. Ms. Burnham currently serves as a director of Blend Labs, a public software company, since December 2021. From January 2019 to December 2020, Ms. Burnham served as a Partner and member of the Management Committee of QED Investors. From 1997 to January 2019, Ms. Burnham held a number of positions with Evercore, including Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Evercore Trust Company N.A. Ms. Burnham received an A.B. from Princeton University and an M.B.A from Columbia Business School.

We believe that Ms. Burnham is qualified to serve on our board of directors because of her extensive financial and investment expertise.

Greg Couch, age 48,has served as a member of AppHarvest’s Board since January 2018. Mr. Couch currently serves as the chief executive officer of Meridian Wealth Management, LLC, which he founded in 2009. Mr. Couch received a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Kentucky University.

We believe that Mr. Couch is qualified to serve on our Board because of his financial and investment background and his deep knowledge of and involvement in Kentucky and the Appalachian region.

Anna Mason, age 37,has served as a member of AppHarvest’s Board since July 2020. Ms. Mason currently serves as Managing Partner of Rise of the Rest Seed Fund at Revolution, a position she has held since April 2021, and previously served as Partner from December 2017 to April 2021 and Director of Investments of Rise of the Rest Seed Fund from June 2016 to December 2017. Ms. Mason served as the Co-Founder of Burn This, Inc. from August 2012 to December 2015 and held the position of Vice President  —  Distressed and High Yield Trading at The Seaport Group from June 2009 to May 2013. Ms.
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Mason received a B.A. in Political Science and Government from Harvard College and a M.B.A from the New York University Stern School of Business.

We believe that Ms. Mason is qualified to serve on our Board because of her financial and investment expertise, including her particular focus in the growth of startups.

R. Geof Rochester, age 62, has served as a member of AppHarvest’s Board since April 2021. Mr. Rochester currently serves as the Founder of and Strategic Advisor for GRC Advising, which he founded in January 2018. Mr. Rochester previously served as the Chief Marketing Officer of the Company from August 2020 to April 2021, and as a consultant of the Company from July 2019 to August 2020 and from April 2021 to September 2021. He also served as the Managing Director of The Nature Conservancy from July 2010 to December 2017 and as its Chief Marketing Officer from July 2010 to 2013. Mr. Rochester received a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University and a M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

We believe that Mr. Rochester is qualified to serve on our Board because of his thought leadership in corporate sustainability and social responsibility, philanthropy and marketing.

Martha Stewart, age 80,has served as a member of AppHarvest’s Board since May 2020. Ms. Stewart currently serves as the Chief Creative Officer of Marquee Brands, a position she has held since June 2019. Ms. Stewart served as Chief Creative Officer of Sequential Brands Group Inc. from December 2015 to June 2019 and Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. from 1996 until its sale to Sequential Brands Group Inc. in December 2015. Ms. Stewart has served on the board of directors of the Sequential Brands Group, Inc. since December 2015. Ms. Stewart received a B.A. in European History and Architectural History from Barnard College.

We believe that Ms. Stewart is qualified to serve on our Board because of her deep executive experience leading global food and retail companies.

Jeffrey Ubben, age 60,has served as a member of AppHarvest’s Board since March 2019. Mr. Ubben currently serves as the Founder and Chairman of Inclusive Capital Partners, L.P., a position he has held since July 2020. Mr. Ubben held a number of positions with ValueAct Capital, a company he helped co-found, including Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, from 2000 to June 2020. Mr. Ubben has served on the boards of directors for Nikola Corporation, a publicly traded energy and transportation solutions company, since September 2019, Enviva Partners, LP, an industrial wood pellet production company, since June 2020, and Exxon Mobile Corporation, a publicly traded energy company, since February 2021. Mr. Ubben previously served on the boards of directors of AES Corporation from January 2018 to February 2021, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. from November 2015 to April 2018 and Willis Towers Watson plc from January 2016 to November 2017. Mr. Ubben received a B.A. from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

We believe that Mr. Ubben is qualified to serve on our Board because of his investment industry background, experience serving on the boards of directors of public companies and leadership in socially responsible investing.

J. Kevin Willis, age 56, has served as a member of AppHarvest’s Board since February 2022. Mr. Willis is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Ashland Global Holdings Inc., a public company, since September 2016. Mr. Willis held the same positions at Ashland Inc. and served in such capacities since May 2013. Mr. Willis received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Eastern Kentucky University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

We believe that Mr. Willis is qualified to serve on our Board because of his financial expertise and extensive executive experience.

Family Relationships

There are no family relationships among any of our directors or executive officers.

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Board Leadership Structure

Our Corporate Governance Guidelines specify that the Board will select our Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson in the manner that it determines to be in the best interests of our stockholders and in accordance with any stockholder agreements. The Company does not believe there should be a fixed rule regarding the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson being held by different individuals, or whether the Chairperson should be an employee of the Company or should be elected from among the non-employee directors. The needs of the Company and the individuals available to assume these roles may require different outcomes at different times, and the Board believes that retaining flexibility in these decisions is in the best interests of the Company. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee periodically reviews this matter and makes recommendations to the Board. Most recently, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee has recommended, and the Board has determined, that the roles of Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson be combined. The Board is chaired by Mr. Webb, our Chief Executive Officer. The Board believes that it is advantageous to have a Chairperson with significant history with, and extensive knowledge of, our company, as is the case with Mr. Webb.

Our Corporate Governance Guidelines further specify that in the event that we do not have an independent Chairperson, the independent directors may designate a lead independent director. The Board has appointed Mr. Bhatraju as lead independent director in order to help reinforce the independence of the Board as a whole. The position of lead independent director has been structured to serve as an effective balance to Mr. Webb’s leadership as the combined Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson. The lead independent directors’ duties include: (i) presiding at all meetings of the Board at which the Chairperson is not present, including executive sessions of the independent directors; (ii) acting as liaison between the independent directors and the Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson; (iii) presiding over meetings of the independent directors; (iv) consulting with the Chairperson in planning and setting schedules and agendas for Board meetings; and (v) performing such other functions as the Board may delegate. As a result, we believe that the lead independent director can help ensure the effective independent functioning of the Board in its oversight responsibilities. In addition, we believe that the lead independent director serves as a conduit between the other independent directors and the Chairperson, for example, by facilitating the inclusion on meeting agendas of matters of concern to the independent directors.

Role of the Board in Risk Oversight

One of the key functions of the Board is the informed oversight of our risk management process. The Board does not have a standing risk management committee, but rather administers this oversight function directly through the Board as a whole, as well as through various standing committees of the Board that address risks inherent in their respective areas of oversight. In particular, the Board is responsible for monitoring and assessing strategic risk exposure and the Audit Committee has the responsibility to consider and discuss our major financial risk exposures and the steps its management will take to monitor and control such exposures, including guidelines and policies to govern the process by which risk assessment and management is undertaken. The Audit Committee will also monitor compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. The Compensation Committee assesses and monitors whether our compensation plans, policies and programs comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Meetings of the Board and Its Committees

The Board met six times during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 following the completion of our Business Combination in January 2021. The Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee met nine, four and five times, respectively during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. Each director attended 75% or more of the aggregate number of meetings of the Board and of the committees on which he or she served, held during the portion of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 for which he or she was a director or committee member.

Information Regarding Committees of the Board

The Board has established standing committees in connection with the saledischarge of its responsibilities. These committees include an Audit Committee, a Compensation Committee and a Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. The following table provides current membership information for each of these Board committees:

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NameAuditCompensationNominating and Corporate Governance
Jonathan Webb
David Lee
Kiran BhatrajuX*
Ciara Burnham(1)
XX
Greg CouchX
Anna MasonX
R. Geof Rochester(1)
Martha StewartX
Jeffrey UbbenX*
J. Kevin Willis(2)
X*X

*Committee Chairperson
(1)Joined the Board in April 2021
(2)Joined the Board in February 2022

Below is a description of the assetsAudit Committee, Compensation Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board. Each of the committees operates pursuant to a written charter and each committee reviews and assesses the adequacy of its charter and submits its charter to the Board for approval. The written charters of the committees are available at the investors section of our website at www.appharvest.com. The inclusion of our website address here and elsewhere in this proxy statement does not include or incorporate by reference the information on our website into this proxy statement.

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee consists of Messrs. Willis and Couch and Ms. Burnham, each of whom the Board has determined satisfies the independence requirements under Nasdaq listing standards and Rule 10A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act. The chairperson of the Audit Committee is Mr. Willis. Each member of the Audit Committee can read and understand fundamental financial statements in accordance with applicable requirements. In arriving at these determinations, the Board has examined each Audit Committee member’s scope of experience and the nature of their employment in the corporate finance sector. In addition, the Board has determined that Mr. Willis qualifies as an audit committee financial expert, as defined in Item 407(d)(5) of Regulation S-K promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).

The primary purpose of the Audit Committee is to discharge the responsibilities of the Board with respect to our corporate accounting and financial reporting processes, systems of internal control and financial statement audits, and to oversee the independent registered public accounting firm. Specific responsibilities of the Audit Committee include:

helping the Board oversee corporate accounting and financial reporting processes;

managing the selection, engagement, qualifications, independence and performance of a qualified firm to serve as the independent registered public accounting firm to audit the financial statements;

discussing the scope and results of the audit with the independent registered public accounting firm, and

reviewing, with management and the independent accountants, the interim and year-end operating results;

developing procedures for employees to submit concerns anonymously about questionable accounting or audit matters;

reviewing related person transactions;

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obtaining and reviewing a report by the independent registered public accounting firm at least annually that describes internal quality control procedures, any material issues with such procedures and any steps taken to deal with such issues when required by applicable law; and

approving or, as permitted, pre-approving, audit and permissible non-audit services to be performed by the independent registered public accounting firm.

Compensation Committee

The Compensation Committee consists of Mr. Bhatraju and Msses. Mason and Stewart. The chairperson of the Compensation Committee is Mr. Bhatraju. The Board has determined that each member of the Compensation Committee is independent under the Nasdaq listing standards and a “non-employee director” as defined in Rule 16b-3 promulgated under the Exchange Act.

The primary purpose of the Compensation Committee is to discharge the responsibilities of the Board in overseeing the compensation policies, plans and programs and to review and determine the compensation to be paid to executive officers, directors and other senior management, as appropriate. Specific responsibilities of the Compensation Committee include:

reviewing and approving the compensation of the chief executive officer, other executive officers and senior management;

administering the equity incentive plans and other benefit programs;

reviewing, adopting, amending and terminating incentive compensation and equity plans, severance agreements, profit sharing plans, bonus plans, change-of-control protections and any other compensatory arrangements for the executive officers and other senior management; and

reviewing and establishing general policies relating to compensation and benefits of the employees, including the overall compensation philosophy.

Compensation Committee Processes and Procedures

Typically, the Compensation Committee meets quarterly and with greater frequency if necessary. The agenda for each meeting is usually developed by the chairperson of the Compensation Committee, in consultation with our Chief Executive Officer. The Compensation Committee meets regularly in executive session. However, from time to time, various members of management and other employees as well as outside advisers or consultants may be invited by the Compensation Committee to make presentations, to provide financial or other background information or advice or to otherwise participate in Compensation Committee meetings. The Chief Executive Officer may not participate in, or be present during, any deliberations or determinations of the Compensation Committee regarding his compensation or individual performance objectives. The charter of the Compensation Committee grants the Compensation Committee full access to all books, records, facilities and personnel of the Company. In addition, under the charter, the Compensation Committee has the authority to obtain, at our expense, advice and assistance from compensation consultants and internal and external legal, accounting or other advisers and other external resources that the Compensation Committee considers necessary or appropriate in the performance of its duties. The Compensation Committee has direct responsibility for the oversight of the work of any consultants or advisers engaged for the purpose of advising the Compensation Committee. In particular, the Compensation Committee has the authority to retain compensation consultants to assist in its evaluation of executive and director compensation, including authority to approve the consultant’s reasonable fees and other retention terms. Under the charter, the Compensation Committee may select, or receive advice from, a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser to the Compensation Committee, other than in-house legal counsel and certain other types of advisers, only after assessing the independence of such person in accordance with SEC and Nasdaq requirements that bear upon the adviser’s independence; however, there is no requirement that any adviser be independent.

The Compensation Committee’s process comprises two related elements: the determination of compensation levels and the establishment of performance objectives for the current year. For executives other than the Chief Executive Officer, our Compensation Committee solicits and considers evaluations and recommendations submitted to the Compensation Committee
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by the Chief Executive Officer. In the case of the Chief Executive Officer, the evaluation of his performance is conducted by the Compensation Committee, which determines any adjustments to his compensation as well as awards to be granted.

Our Compensation Committee makes most of the significant adjustments to annual compensation, determines bonus and equity awards, and establishes new performance objectives at one or more meetings held during the first quarter of the year. Our Compensation Committee also considers matters related to individual compensation, such as compensation for new executive hires, as well as high-level strategic issues, such as the efficacy of our compensation strategy, potential modifications to that strategy and new trends, plans or approaches to compensation, at various meetings throughout the year.

We have designed our executive compensation program to attract, motivate and retain a team of highly qualified executives who will drive innovation and business success. To inform executive compensation decisions and ensure the competitiveness of our executive compensation programs and decisions, our Compensation Committee benchmarks our executive compensation against the total executive compensation of a peer group of companies. For all executives and directors as part of its deliberations, the Compensation Committee may also review and consider, as appropriate, materials such as executive stock ownership information, company stock performance data, analyses of historical executive compensation levels and current Company-wide compensation levels.

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee consists of Messrs. Ubben and Willis and Ms. Burnham. The chairperson of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee is Mr. Ubben. All members of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee are independent under the Nasdaq listing standards. Specific responsibilities of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee include:

identifying and evaluating candidates, including the nomination of incumbent directors for reelection and nominees recommended by stockholders, to serve on the Board;
considering and making recommendations to the Board regarding the composition and chairpersonship of the committees of the Board;
reviewing and recommending to the board the compensation paid to the directors;
instituting plans or programs for the continuing education of the Board and orientation of new directors;
reviewing, evaluating and recommending to the Board succession plans for our executive officers;
developing and making recommendations to the Board regarding corporate governance guidelines and matters, including in relation to corporate social responsibility; and
overseeing periodic evaluations of the performance of the Board, including our individual directors and committees.

Our Board determines the appropriate characteristics, skills and experience for the Board as a whole and for its individual members. The Board considers recommendation for nominees from the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. The Board, and in turn the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, consider the minimum general criteria below, and may add any specific additional criteria with respect to specific searches, in selecting candidates and existing directors for serving on the Board. An acceptable candidate may not fully satisfy all of the criteria, but is expected to satisfy nearly all of them. The Board believes that candidates for director should have certain minimum qualifications, including the highest person integrity and ethics, the ability to read and understand basic financial statements, understand AppHarvest’s industry and being older than 21.

In considering candidates recommended by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, the Board intends to consider other factors, such as: (i) possessing relevant expertise upon which to be able to offer advice and guidance to management; (ii) having sufficient time to devote to the affairs of AppHarvest; (iii) demonstrating excellence in his or her field; (iv) having the ability to exercise sound business judgment; (v) experience as a board member or executive officer of another publicly held company; (vi) having a diverse personal background, perspective and experience; and (vii) having the commitment to rigorously represent the long-term interests of AppHarvest’s stakeholders consistent with AppHarvest’s public benefit corporation (“PBC”) status.

The Board and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee reviews candidates for director nomination in the context of the current composition of the Board, our operating requirements, and the long-term interests of AppHarvest’s stakeholders. In conducting this assessment, the Board and the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee consider diversity (including diversity of gender, ethnic background and country of origin), age, skills and other factors that it deems
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appropriate to maintain a balance of knowledge, experience, and capability on the Board. For incumbent directors, the Board reviews those directors’ overall service to AppHarvest during their term, including the number of meetings attended, level of participation, quality of performance, and any other relationships and transactions that might impair the directors’ independence. In the case of new director candidates, the Board also determines whether the nominee must be independent for Nasdaq purposes.

Generally, our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee identifies candidates for director nominees in consultation with management, using search firms or other advisors, through the recommendations submitted by stockholders or through such other methods as the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee deems to be helpful to identify candidates. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee conducts any appropriate and necessary inquiries into the backgrounds and qualifications of possible candidates after considering the function and needs of the Board. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee meets to discuss and consider the candidates’ qualifications and then selects a nominee for recommendation to the Board by majority vote. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee may gather information about the candidates through interviews, questionnaires, background checks or any other means that the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee deems to be appropriate in the evaluation process. We have no formal policy regarding board diversity. Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee’s priority in selecting board members is identification of persons who will further the interests of our company through his or her established record of professional accomplishment, the ability to contribute positively to the collaborative culture among board members, and professional and personal experiences and expertise relevant to our growth strategy.

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee will consider director candidates recommended by stockholders. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee does not intend to alter the manner in which it evaluates candidates, including the minimum criteria set forth above, based on whether or not the candidate was recommended by a stockholder. Stockholders who wish to recommend individuals for consideration by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee to become nominees for election to the Board may do so by providing timely notice in writing to our Secretary at c/o AppHarvest, Inc., 500 Appalachian Way, Morehead, Kentucky 40351. To be timely, we must receive the notice not less than 90 days nor more than 120 days prior to the anniversary of the prior year’s annual meeting of stockholders; provided, however, that in the event that the date of the annual meeting is more than 30 days before or more than 30 days after such anniversary date, we must receive the stockholder’s notice (i) no earlier than the close of business on the 120th day prior to the proposed date of the annual meeting and (ii) no later than the close of business on the later of the 90th day prior to the annual meeting or the 10th day following the day on which we first make a public announcement of the date of the annual meeting. Submissions must include the specific information required in Section 5 of our Bylaws. For additional information about our director nomination requirements, please see our Bylaws.

Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports

Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires the Company’s directors and executive officers, and persons who own more than 10% of a registered class of the Company’s equity securities, to file with the SEC initial reports of ownership and reports of changes in ownership of common stock and other equity securities of the Company. Officers, directors and greater than 10% stockholders are required by SEC regulations to furnish the Company with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file.

To the Company’s knowledge, based solely on a review of the copies of such reports furnished to the Company and written representations that no other reports were required, during the year ended December 31, 2021, we believe that all of our officers, directors and greater than 10% beneficial owners timely filed all reports required by Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, except for: (1) two late reports on Form 3 filed by Ciara Burnham and R. Geof Rochester in April 2021 and (2) one late report on Form 4 filed by David Lee in December 2021, to report the shares withheld to satisfy withholding tax obligations upon the vesting of restricted stock units.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the “Code of Conduct”), applicable to all of our employees, executive officers and directors. The Code of Conduct is available at the investors section of our website at www.appharvest.com. Information contained on or accessible through this website is not a part of this proxy statement, and the inclusion of such website address in this proxy statement is an inactive textual reference only. Any amendments to the Code of Conduct, or any waivers of its requirements, are will be disclosed on our website to the extent required by applicable rules and exchange requirements.
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Corporate Governance Guidelines

The Board has adopted Corporate Governance Guidelines to assure that the Board will have the necessary authority and practices in place to review and evaluate our business operations as needed and to make decisions that are independent of our management. The guidelines are also intended to align the interests of directors and management with those of our stockholders. The Corporate Governance Guidelines set forth the practices the Board intends to follow with respect to, among other things, board composition and selection including diversity, board meetings and involvement of senior management, Chief Executive Officer performance evaluation and succession planning, and board committees and compensation. The Corporate Governance Guidelines are available in the investors section of our website at www.appharvest.com.

Executive Officers

Our executive officers as of this Annual Report, who were not directors, were:

Loren Eggleton, age 39,has served as AppHarvest’s Chief Financial Officer since November 2020 and previously served as AppHarvest’s Senior Vice President, Finance and Treasurer from September 2020 to November 2020 and AppHarvest’s Chief Financial Officer from July 2019 to September 2020. From January 2014 to July, 2019, Mr. Eggleton served as Vice President of Finance for Famous Brands International. Mr. Eggletonreceived a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Kentucky and an M.S. in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame — Mendoza College of Business.

Julie Nelson, age 49, serves as our Chief Operating Officer since February 2022. She joined the company as Executive Vice President, operations in August 2021. Previously she was an associate partner at McKinsey & Company from 2020 to 2021 and a vice president at PepsiCo responsible for operations and supply chain teams in Global Operations and North American Beverage from 2015 to 2019. She serves as an advisory council member for the West Virginia University Global Supply Chain Management Program. Nelson received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Item 11. Executive Compensation

Executive Compensation

Our named executive officers for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 were:

Jonathan Webb, our Chief Executive Officer;
David Lee, our President;
Loren Eggleton, our Chief Financial Officer; and
Marcella Butler, our former Chief Operating Officer.

The Compensation Committee oversees the compensation policies, plans and programs and reviews and determines compensation to be paid to our named executive officers. The compensation policies we follow are intended to provide for compensation that is sufficient to attract, motivate and retain our executives and potential other individuals and to establish an appropriate relationship between executive compensation and the creation of stockholder value. Our executive compensation program is designed to align compensation with our business objectives and the creation of stockholder value, empowering individuals in Appalachia, driving positive environmental change in the agriculture industry and improving the lives of our employees and the community at large, while enabling us to attract, retain, incentivize and reward individuals who contribute to our long-term success. Decisions on the executive compensation program will be made by the Compensation Committee.

Summary Compensation Table

The following table shows information regarding the compensation earned by or paid to our named executive officers during the fiscal years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. Since Mr. Lee was not a named executive officer during the previous fiscal year, we provided information with respect to his compensation solely with respect to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.

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Name and Principal PositionYear
Salary
($)(1)
Bonus
Stock Awards
($)(2)
Non-Equity Incentive Plan CompensationAll Other Compensation
($)
Total ($)
Jonathan Webb2021$250,000 $1,500,000 (3)$31,282,077 — $55,782 (4)(5)$33,087,859 
Chief Executive Officer2020137,692 — — — 22,717 (6)160,409 
David Lee2021650,000 — 22,567,690 — 21,521 (7)23,239,211 
President
Loren Eggleton2021345,000 — — — 13,784 (8)358,784 
Chief Financial Officer2020182,468 — — — 8,209 (9)190,677 
Marcella Butler(10)
2021214,814 — 2,539,500 103,500 (11)351,326 (12)3,209,140 
Former Chief Operating Officer202099,615 — 1,726,788 — 25,605 (13)1,852,008 

(1)Salary amounts represent actual amounts paid during 2021 and 2020.
(2)Amounts reported represent the aggregate grant date fair value of RSUs and performance-RSUs granted to such named executive officers during 2021 and 2020 under the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan and 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, as applicable, computed in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 718 (“ASC Topic 718”), excluding the effect of estimated forfeitures. The assumptions used in calculating the grant date fair value of the RSUs, performance-RSUs, market-RSUs and stock options reported in this column are set forth in Note 14 — Stock Compensation and Other Benefit Plans to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.
This amount does not reflect the actual economic value that may have been or that may be realized by the named executive officer.
(3)Amount represents a one-time bonus upon the closing of the Business Combination in recognition of Mr. Webb’s contributions to the Company.
(4)One-third of the RSUs granted to Mr. Webb in 2021 were cancelled effective December 31, 2021 as the vesting conditions for such RSUS, which related to the Company’s performance on certain operational, social and environmental measures as well as performance of the Company’s stock price for 2021, were not satisfied. Mr. Webb did not and will not receive any economic value from the cancelled portion of the RSUs. Similarly, the remaining portion of the RSUs is also subject to vesting as detailed in Footnotes 2 and 3 to the table in “—Outstanding Equity Awards at December 31, 2021” below and will be cancelled if the vesting conditions are not satisfied. Mr. Webb did not receive any other equity awards in 2021.
(5)Consists of amounts paid for Mr. Webb’s life and disability insurance premiums, 401(k) matching contributions, legal expenses of $10,615, vehicle lease of $8,943, home security of $25,521 and personal use of company-provided administrative support of $7,662 during the year.
(6)Consists of amounts paid for Mr. Webb’s corporate housing, vehicle lease, cell phone and 401(k) matching contributions during the year.
(7)Consists of amounts paid for Mr. Lee’s life and disability insurance premiums and 401(k) matching contributions of $20,875 during the year.
(8)Consists of amounts paid for Mr. Eggleton’s life and disability insurance premiums and 401(k) matching contributions of $13,131 during the year.
(9)Consists of amounts paid for Mr. Eggleton’s cell phone and 401(k) matching contributions during the year.
(10)Effective July 7, 2021, Ms. Butler’s employment with AppHarvest was terminated.
(11)Amount represents a 50% target bonus for 2021 payment pursuant to the Separation Agreement (described below) with Ms. Butler.
(12)Consists of amounts paid for Ms. Butler’s life and disability insurance premiums and a lump sum severance payment of $350,000 pursuant to the Separation Agreement with Ms. Butler, reflecting 12 months of her base salary, during the year.
(13)Consists of amounts paid for Ms. Butler’s relocation expenses, cell phone and 401(k) matching contributions during the year.

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Outstanding Equity Awards at December 31, 2021

The following table shows certain information regarding outstanding equity awards held by each of our named executive officers at December 31, 2021:

Option AwardsStock Awards
NameGrant DateNumber of Securities Underlying Unexercised Options (#) ExercisableNumber of Securities Underlying Unexercised Options (#) UnexercisableOption Exercise PriceOption Expiration DateNumber of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested (#)
Market Value of Shares of Stock That Have Not Vested(1)
Jonathan Webb04/12/2021— — — — 
1,468,872(2)
$5,713,912 
Chief Executive Officer04/12/2021— — — — 
489,624(3)
1,904,638 
— — — — 
David Lee09/29/2020— — — — 
125,439(4)
487,958 
President04/12/2021— — — — 
1,333,000(5)
5,185,370 
Loren Eggleton
Chief Financial Officer
05/21/2019147,849 
209,431(6)
$0.22 05/20/2029— — 
Marcella Butler(7)
08/28/2020— — — — — — 
Former Chief Operating Officer04/12/2021— — — — — — 

(1)Market value is calculated based on the closing price of our Common Stock on December 31, 2021, which was $3.89 per share, as reported on Nasdaq.
(2)The shares underlying the RSUs vest as follows: One-third of the RSUs will vest if, prior to December 31, 2022, the closing price per share of our Common Stock equals or exceeds $15.50 per share for 90 consecutive trading days during the performance period of our annual bonus program for 2022; and one-third of the RSUs will vest if, prior to December 31, 2023, the closing price per share of our Common Stock equals or exceeds $17.50 per share for 90 consecutive trading days during the performance period of our annual bonus program for 2023. The RSU award is subject to acceleration of vesting in specified circumstances.
(3)The shares underlying the RSUs vest in three equal annual installments based on the achievement of the Company’s performance on certain operational, social and environmental measures.
(4)The shares underlying the RSUs vest in 12 equal quarterly installments commencing July 24, 2020, subject to Mr. Lee’s continued service at each vesting date.
(5)25% of the shares underlying this RSU vested on January 25, 2022, and the remaining 75% of the shares underlying this option will vest in 12 equal quarterly installments thereafter, subject to Mr. Lee’s continued service at each vesting date.
(6)25% of the shares underlying this option vested on May 21, 2020, and the remaining 75% of the shares underlying this option vest in 36 equal monthly installments thereafter, subject to Mr. Eggleton’s continued service at each vesting date.
(7)Effective July 7, 2021, Ms. Butler’s employment with AppHarvest was terminated.

Employment Arrangements with Executive Officers

Each of our named executive officers is an at-will employee with certain rights to advance notice prior to termination. Except as set forth below, we have not entered into any employment agreements or offer letters with our named executive officers.

Jonathan Webb

In December 2020, we entered into an employment agreement with Jonathan Webb, our Chief Executive Officer. Pursuant to the agreement, Mr. Webb receives an annual base salary of $250,000 and is eligible (i) to participate in our benefit plans and (ii) for an annual discretionary cash bonus beginning on January 1, 2024 in accordance with any bonus plan adopted by our board.

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David Lee

In January 2021, we entered into an offer letter agreement with David Lee. Pursuant to the offer letter, Mr. Lee receives an annual base salary of $650,000 and is eligible: (i) to participate in our benefit plans; and (ii) subject to approval of our board, for participation in short-term and long-term incentive programs to be adopted by our board, with target payouts of 100% of base salary under the short-term program for 2021 and 200% of base salary for each year of the three-year long-term program (subject to continued employment for the entire three-year period), in each case contingent upon the achievement of performance goals that will be set by our board. The offer letter further provides that we reimburse Mr. Lee for reasonable travel expenses incurred to regularly travel to our headquarters and, at Mr. Lee’s request, for twenty-four months of housing expenses.

Loren Eggleton

In December 2020, we entered into an employment agreement with Loren Eggleton, our Chief Financial Officer. Pursuant to the agreement, Mr. Eggleton receives an annual base salary of $345,000 and is eligible: (i) to participate in our benefit plans; and (ii) for an annual discretionary cash bonus in accordance with any bonus plan adopted by our board. Mr. Eggleton is also eligible under his employment agreement to receive future awards of stock options or other equity awards, subject to the approval of our board or its Compensation Committee, pursuant to any plans or arrangements we may have in effect from time to time.

Marcella Butler

In December 2020, we entered into an employment agreement with Marcella Butler, our former Chief Operating Officer. Pursuant to the agreement, Ms. Butler received an annual base salary of $350,000 and was eligible: (i) to participate in our benefit plans; (ii) for reimbursement of up to $20,000 in relocation expenses incurred in 2020 in connection with her relocation to the Lexington, Kentucky area; and (iii) for an annual discretionary cash bonus in accordance with any bonus plan adopted by our Board. Ms. Butler was also eligible under her employment agreement to receive future awards of stock options or other equity awards, subject to the approval of our Board or Compensation Committee, pursuant to any plans or arrangements we may have in effect from time to time.

Subsequent to December 31, 2020, our Board determined that the duties and responsibilities of Ms. Butler evolved such that she was no longer an “officer” within the meaning of Rule 16a-1(f) under the Exchange Act or an “executive officer” within the meaning of Rule 3b-7 under the Exchange Act. Her title was changed from Chief Operating Officer to Chief People Officer.

Effective July 7, 2021, Ms. Butler’s employment with AppHarvest was terminated and we have no further obligations under this employment agreement.

Potential Payments and Benefits upon Termination or Change of Control

Jonathan Webb

Pursuant to the terms of the employment agreement with Mr. Webb, if Mr. Webb’s employment is terminated by us without “Cause” or by Mr. Webb for “Good Reason” (such terms as defined in the employment agreement with Mr. Webb), then, provided Mr. Webb timely executes and does not revoke a release agreement in our favor (in the form attached to his employment agreement) and complies with his continuing obligations under the agreement and his confidential information agreement, he will receive the following severance benefits: (a) continuing payments of his then-current annual base salary for six months; (b) payment of the premiums necessary to continue health insurance coverage for himself and his eligible dependents under our group health plans pursuant to COBRA or similar state insurance laws, for up to six months; (c) if the separation occurs after January 1, 2024, a prorated annual bonus using the target bonus amount, prorated based on the number of days elapsed in the bonus year through the date of termination; and (d) accelerated vesting and, if applicable, exercisability of the then-unvested portion of each of his outstanding equity awards (other than any equity awards subject to performance-based or other similar vesting criteria) that would have become vested had he remained employed for an additional six months following his termination.

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David Lee

Pursuant to the terms of the offer letter with Mr. Lee, if Mr. Lee’s employment is terminated by us without “Cause” or by Mr. Lee for “Good Reason” (such terms as defined in the offer letter with Mr. Lee), then, provided Mr. Lee timely executes and does not revoke a release of claims in our favor, he will receive the following severance benefits: (a) continuing payments of his then-current annual base salary for twelve months; (b) payment of the premiums necessary to continue health insurance coverage for himself and his eligible dependents under our group health plans pursuant to COBRA or similar state insurance laws, for up to twelve months; and (c) a pro rata portion of the target bonus under the short-term and long-term incentive programs.

If Mr. Lee’s employment is terminated by us for a reason other than for “Cause”, death or disability or by Mr. Lee for “Good Reason” (such terms as defined in the offer letter with Mr. Lee), then 25% of the then-unvested portion of each of his outstanding equity awards will become fully vested. If Mr. Lee’s employment is terminated by us for a reason other than for “Cause”, death or disability or by Mr. Lee for “Good Reason” (such terms as defined in the offer letter with Mr. Lee) within three months prior to or 12 months after a Change in Control (as defined in the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan), then 100% of the then-unvested portion of each of his outstanding equity awards will become fully vested.

Loren Eggleton

Pursuant to the terms of the employment agreement with Mr. Eggleton, if Mr. Eggleton’s employment is terminated by us without “Cause” or by Mr. Eggleton for “Good Reason” (such terms as defined in the employment agreement with Mr. Eggleton), then, provided Mr. Eggleton timely executes and does not revoke a separation agreement including, among other terms, a release of claims in our favor, and complies with his continuing obligations under the agreement and his confidential information agreement, he will receive the following severance benefits: (a) continuing payments of his then-current annual base salary for six months; (b) payment of the premiums necessary to continue health insurance coverage for himself and his eligible dependents under our group health plans pursuant to COBRA or similar state insurance laws, for up to six months; (c) an amount equal to 50% of his then-current annual target bonus; and (d) accelerated vesting and, if applicable, exercisability of the then-unvested portion of each of his outstanding equity awards (other than any equity awards subject to performance-based or other similar vesting criteria) that would have become vested had he remained employed for an additional six months following his termination.

Marcella Butler

Pursuant to the terms of the employment agreement with Ms. Butler, if Ms. Butler’s employment is terminated by us without “Cause” or by Ms. Butler for “Good Reason” (such terms as defined in the employment agreement with Ms. Butler), then, provided Ms. Butler timely executes and does not revoke a separation agreement including, among other terms, a release of claims in our favor, and complies with her continuing obligations under the agreement and her confidential information agreement, she will receive the following severance benefits: (a) continuing payments of her then-current annual base salary for six months; (b) payment of the premiums necessary to continue health insurance coverage for herself and her eligible dependents under our group health plans pursuant to COBRA or similar state insurance laws, for up to six months; (c) an amount equal to 50% of her then-current annual target bonus; and (d) accelerated vesting and, if applicable, exercisability of the then unvested portion of each of her outstanding equity awards (other than any equity awards subject to performance-based or other similar vesting criteria) that would have become vested had she remained employed for an additional six months following her termination.

On July 9, 2021, we entered into a separation agreement (the “Separation Agreement”) with Ms. Butler. Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Separation Agreement, we agreed to pay Ms. Butler 12 months of severance, payable as a lump sum subject to standard payroll deductions and withholdings, as well as fifty percent of her target bonus for 2021 and 12 months and 7 days of acceleration of her unvested equity awards. The Separation Agreement contains customary broad form releases and confidentiality provisions.

Effective July 7, 2021, Ms. Butler’s employment with AppHarvest was terminated and we have no further obligations under this employment agreement.

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Employee Cash Incentive Plan

In March 2021, the Compensation Committee adopted an Employee Cash Incentive Plan (the “Cash Incentive Plan”) which governs the terms of annual cash incentive awards granted to eligible employees of the Company, as determined by the Compensation Committee from time to time. Our named executive officers are eligible to participate in the Cash Incentive Plan, except that Mr. Webb is not eligible to participate for the 2021 performance period. The Compensation Committee (or its delegate) administers the Cash Incentive Plan and has the authority to determine all of the awards granted under the Cash Incentive Plan.

The Cash Incentive Plan provides for a cash incentive award determined based on the achievement of specified annual Company performance goals, which include net revenue, adjusted EBITDA and improvement in the Company’s benefit corporation certification score, as well as individual performance goals. Each eligible employee was assigned an individual incentive target expressed as a percentage of the employee’s annual base salary.

Following the end of each annual performance period, the Committee determines achievement of the Company and individual performance goals. The Committee may modify and/or adjust the performance goals or the related level of achievement, in whole or in part, as it deems appropriate or equitable. Any cash incentive awards that become payable under the Cash Incentive Plan will generally be paid no later than 90 days following the end of the applicable performance period. In order to receive an award under the Cash Incentive Plan, the participant must generally remain employed and in good standing with the Company through the date of payment.

In January 2022, the Compensation Committee determined that no bonuses under the Cash Incentive Plan, whether based on Company performance relative to 2021 Corporate Goals or individual incentive targets, will be paid for the 2021 performance period.

Long-Term Incentives

Equity-based compensation has been and will continue to be an important foundation in executive compensation packages as we believe it is important to maintain a strong link between executive incentives and the creation of stockholder value. We believe that performance and equity-based compensation can be an important component of the total executive compensation package for maximizing stockholder value while, at the same time, attracting, motivating and retaining high-quality executives.

2021 Equity Incentive Plan

In January 2021, our Board adopted and our stockholders approved the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2021 Plan”). The 2021 Plan became effective immediately upon the closing of the Business Combination. The 2021 Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options (“ISOs”), within the meaning of Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), to employees, including employees of any parent or subsidiary, and for the grant of nonstatutory stock options (“NSOs”), stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards, performance awards and other forms of awards to employees, directors and consultants, including employees and consultants of our affiliates. Under the 2021 Plan, our Board has the authority to determine award recipients, grant dates, the numbers and types of stock awards to be granted, the applicable fair market value, and the provisions of each stock award, including the period of exercisability and the vesting schedule applicable to a stock award. See “Equity Compensation Plans at December 31, 2021” for further information.

The maximum number of shares of Common Stock that may be issued under the 2021 Plan will not exceed 10,026,958 shares of Common Stock (the “2021 Plan Shares”). As of February 15, 2022, we had 9,732,012 shares of Common Stock reserved for issuance pursuant to the 2021 Plan.

2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Our Board and stockholders adopted the 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) in January 2021. The ESPP became effective immediately upon the closing of the Business Combination. The purpose of the ESPP is to provide a means whereby we can align the long-term financial interests of its employees with the financial interests of our stockholders. In addition, our Board believes that the ability to allow our employees to purchase shares of Common Stock will help us to attract, retain, and motivate employees and encourages them to devote their best efforts to our business and financial success. See
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“Equity Compensation Plans at December 31, 2021” for further information. The ESPP is intended to qualify as an employee stock purchase plan under Section 423 of the Code.

The maximum number of shares of Common Stock that may be issued under the ESPP is 2,005,392 shares of Common Stock (the “ESPP Shares”). As of the February 15, 2022, we had 1,966,656 shares of Common Stock reserved for issuance pursuant to the ESPP.

In August 2021, our Board amended the 2021 Plan and the ESPP to remove the “evergreen” features therein. The “evergreen” provision in the 2021 Plan operated to annually increase the maximum number of 2021 Plan Shares authorized and available for issuance without seeking stockholder approval by 2.5% of the total number of shares of our Common Stock outstanding on December 31st of the preceding year or such lesser number of shares as determined by the Board. The “evergreen” provision in the ESPP operated to annually increase the maximum number of ESPP Shares authorized and available for issuance without seeking stockholder approval by the lesser of (i) 1% of the total number of shares of our Common Stock outstanding on December 31st of the preceding year, (ii) 3,008,087 shares of our Common Stock and (iii) such lesser number of shares as determined by the Board.

The 2018 Plan

Legacy AppHarvest’s Board adopted, and its stockholders approved, the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2018 Plan”) in January 2018. The 2018 Plan was terminated in connection with the transferBusiness Combination. The 2018 Plan permitted the grant of stock options (incentive share options and non-qualified share options), stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, RSUs and other stock awards. Incentive share options could be granted only to Legacy AppHarvest’s employees and to any of Legacy AppHarvest’s parent or subsidiary corporation’s employees. All other awards could be granted to employees, non-employee directors and consultants of Legacy AppHarvest and to employees and consultants of Legacy AppHarvest’s affiliates.

401(k) Plan

We maintain a 401(k) Plan that is intended to qualify as a tax-qualified plan under Section 401 of the Code, which our named executive officers are eligible to participate in on the same basis as our other employees.

Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Directors and Officers

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (“Certificate of Incorporation”) limits a directors’ liability to the fullest extent permitted under the DGCL. The DGCL provides that directors of a corporation will not be personally liable for monetary damages for breach of their fiduciary duties as directors, except for liability:

for any transaction from which the director derives an improper personal benefit;

for any act or omission not in good faith or that involves intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law;

for any unlawful payment of dividends or redemption of shares; or

for any breach of a director’s duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders.

Such limitation of liability does not apply to liabilities arising under federal securities laws and does not affect the availability of equitable remedies such as injunctive relief or rescission. If the DGCL is amended to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of directors, then the liability of the directors will be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL, as so amended.

Delaware law and our Bylaws provide that we will, in certain situations, indemnify our directors and officers and may indemnify other employees and other agents, to the fullest extent permitted by law. Any indemnified person is also entitled, subject to certain limitations, to advancement, direct payment, or reimbursement of reasonable expenses (including attorneys’ fees and disbursements) in advance of the final disposition of the proceeding.

In addition, we have entered into separate indemnification agreements with our directors and officers. These agreements, among other things, require us to indemnify our directors and officers for certain expenses, including attorneys’ fees,
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judgments, fines, and settlement amounts incurred by a director or officer in any action or proceeding arising out of their services as one of our directors or officers or any other company or enterprise to which the person provides services at its request.

We also maintain a directors’ and officers’ insurance policy pursuant to which our directors and officers are insured against liability for actions taken in their capacities as directors and officers. We believe these provisions in the Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws and these indemnification agreements are necessary to attract and retain qualified persons as directors and officers.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers, or control persons, in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.

Rule 10b5-1 Sales Plans

Our directors and executive officers may adopt written plans, known as Rule 10b5-1 plans, in which they will contract with a broker to buy or sell shares of common stock on a periodic basis. Under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, a broker executes trades pursuant to parameters established by the director or executive officer when entering into the plan, without further direction from them. The director or executive officer may amend a Rule 10b5-1 plan in some circumstances and may terminate a plan at any time. Our directors and executive officers also may buy or sell additional shares outside of a Rule 10b5-1 plan when they are not in possession of material nonpublic information, subject to compliance with the terms of our insider trading policy.

DIRECTOR COMPENSATION

The following tables set forth information regarding the compensation earned by or paid to non-employee directors for service on our Board during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. Mr. Webb and Mr. Lee did not receive any additional compensation for their service as directors. Mr. Willis joined the Board in February 2022 and received no compensation from us during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Name
Fees Earned or Paid in Cash(1)
Stock Awards(2)(3)
Option Awards(2)(3)
All Other CompensationTotal
Kiran Bhatraju$69,167 $57,105 $— $— $126,272 
Ciara A. Burnham54,390 24,658 — — 79,048 
Gregory Couch69,167 57,105 — — 126,272 
Robert J. Laikin69,167 57,105 — — 126,272 
Anna Mason— 57,105 (4)— — 57,105 
R. Geof Rochester18,750 15,410 — 
118,584(5)
152,744 
Martha Stewart69,167 57,105 — — 126,272 
Jeffrey Ubben69,167 57,105 — — 126,272 
J.D. Vance(6)
— — — — — 
David Chen(7)
— — — — — 

(1) Includes annual fees paid to all directors for their service on the Board.
(2) Amounts reported represent the aggregate grant date fair value of RSUs and stock options granted to such non-executive director during 2021 under the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan, computed in accordance with ASC Topic 718, excluding the effect of estimated forfeitures. The assumptions used in calculating the grant date fair value of the RSUs and stock options reported in this column are set forth in Note 15 — Stock Compensation and Other Benefit Plans to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report. This amount does not reflect the actual economic value that may be realized by the director.
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(3) The following table sets forth the aggregate number of RSUs and the aggregate number of shares underlying stock options
held by each non-employee director as of December 31, 2021:
NameRSUsNumber of Shares Underlying Options
Kiran Bhatraju3,373
Ciara A. Burnham3,253
Gregory Couch3,373
Robert J. Laikin3,373
Anna Mason
(4)
R. Geof Rochester34,289
Martha Stewart3,373588,637
Jeffrey Ubben3,373
J.D. Vance(6)
David Chen(7)

(4) Ms. Mason voluntarily forfeited these RSUs after they were granted and she never received any economic benefit.
(5) Amount represents fees paid to Mr. Rochester pursuant to the consulting agreement with Mr. Rochester. See Item 13 – Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence - Arrangements with R. Geoff Rochester below.
(6) Mr. Vance resigned from the Board effective April 2021.
(7) Mr. Chen resigned from the Board effective March 2021.

Director Compensation Policy

Beginning in 2020, we provided equity-based compensation to new independent directors who are not employees or affiliated with our largest investors for service on the Board. Previously, we did not provide cash, equity or other non-equity compensation for service on our Board.

In March 2021, our Board approved the terms of a new non-employee director compensation policy. Pursuant to this policy, each non-employee director receives the following compensation for service on the board:

an orderly transaction between market participantsannual cash retainer of $75,000;

an additional cash retainer of $50,000 to the non-executive Chairperson of the Board, if applicable; and

an annual restricted stock unit award having a value of $100,000 which will be granted on the date of our annual stockholders’ meeting and which will vest in full on the date of the following year’s annual meeting, or the date immediately preceding the date of the following year’s annual meeting if the non-employee director’s service as a director ends at such meeting as a result of the measurement date. director’s failure to be re-elected or the director not standing for reelection.

The annual cash compensation amounts will be payable in equal quarterly installments in arrears following the end of each fiscal quarter in which the service occurs, prorated for any partial months of service, with the first payment being retroactive to January 29, 2021.

Our policy is to reimburse directors for reasonable and necessary out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with attending board and committee meetings or performing other services in their capacities as directors.

Our board of directors expects to review director compensation periodically to ensure that director compensation remains competitive such that we are able to recruit and retain qualified directors.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

None of the members of our Compensation Committee has ever been an executive officer or employee of the Company. None of our executive officers currently serve, or has served during the last completed fiscal year, on the Compensation Committee or board of directors of any other entity that has one or more executive officers that serve as a member of the board of directors or Compensation Committee.
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Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our shares of Common Stock as of the February 15, 2022 by:

each person, or group of affiliated persons, known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of the shares of our Common Stock;

each of our named executive officers

each of our directors; and

all of our current executive officers and directors as a group.
Beneficial ownership is determined according to the rules of the SEC, which generally provide that a person has beneficial ownership of a security if he, she or it possesses sole or shared voting or investment power over that security, including options and warrants that are currently exercisable or exercisable and RSUs that vest within 60 days. Options to purchase shares of our common stock that are exercisable within 60 days of the February 15, 2022 are deemed to be beneficially owned by the persons holding these options for the purpose of computing percentage ownership of that person but are not treated as outstanding for the purpose of computing any other person’s ownership percentage.

This table is based upon information supplied by officers, directors and principal securityholders and Schedules 13G or 13D filed with the SEC, as the case may be. Unless otherwise indicated in the footnotes to this table and subject to community property laws where applicable, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by them. Applicable percentages are based on 101,331,768 shares of Common Stock outstanding on the February 15, 2022, adjusted as required by rules promulgated by the SEC.

Beneficial Ownership
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1)
Number of Shares% of Total
5% Stockholder
Jonathan Webb18,319,04718.1 %
Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P.(2)
8,798,7048.7%
Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, LP(3)
5,396,5945.3%
BNP Paribas Asset Management UK Ltd.(4)
5,202,1935.1%
Named Executive Officers and Directors
Jonathan Webb18,319,04718.1%
Loren Eggleton(5)
420,823*
David Lee(6)
282,794*
Kiran Bhatraju(7)
554,036*
Ciara A. Burnham(8)
17,403*
Greg Couch(9)
273,062*
Anna Mason  *
R. Geof Rochester(10)
  32,256*
Martha Stewart(11)
  363,091*
Jeffrey Ubben(12)
  8,802,0778.7%
J. Kevin Willis*
Marcella Butler***
All current directors and executive officers as a group (12 individuals)(13)
  29,064,58928.7 %

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*Less than 1%
**Effective July 7, 2021, Ms. Butler’s employment with AppHarvest was terminated.
(1)Unless otherwise indicated, the address for each beneficial owner listed in the table below is c/o AppHarvest, Inc. 500 Appalachian Way, Morehead, KY 40351.
(2)These shares are held by Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P. (“Inclusive Capital”) Jeffrey Ubben is the controlling member of the management committee of Inclusive Capital Partners, L.L.C., the general partner of Inclusive Capital Partners, L.P., the investment manager to Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P. The principal business address of In-Cap Spring Master Fund is 572 Ruger Street, Suite B, San Francisco, CA 94129.
(3)Stephen M. Case holds sole voting and dispositive power over the shares held by Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, LP (“ROTR”). The principal business address of ROTR is 1717 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20036.
(4)As reported on a Schedule 13G filed by BNP Paribas Asset Management UK Ltd. (“BNP”) on January 31, 2022. BNP has sole voting and dispositive power over the shares. The principal business address is 5 Aldermanbury Square, London, EX2V 7BP.
(5)Consists of (i) 236,014 shares of Common Stock and (ii) 184,809 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of options exercisable within 60 days of February 15, 2022.
(6)Consists of (i) 62,134 shares of Common Stock and (ii) 220,660 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the settlement of restricted stock units that will vest within 60 days of February 15, 2022.
(7)Consists of (i) 550,663 shares of Common Stock and (ii) 3,373 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the settlement of restricted stock units that will vest within 60 days of February 15, 2022.
(8)Consists of (i) 14,150 shares of Common Stock and (ii) 3,253 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the settlement of restricted stock units that will vest within 60 days of February 15, 2022.
(9)Consists of (i) 13,373 shares of Common Stock held by Greg Couch, individually, (ii) 256,316 shares of Common Stock held by Couch Holdings II, LLC (“Couch Holdings”) and (iii) 3,373 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the settlement of restricted stock units that will vest within 60 days of February 15, 2022. Greg Couch is the Managing Member of Couch Holdings. The principal business address of Couch Holdings is 250 West Main Street, Suite 3150, Lexington, KY 40507.
(10)Consists of 32,256 shares of Common Stock.
(11)Consists of (i) 359,718 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of options exercisable within 60 days of February 15, 2022 and (ii) 3,373 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the settlement of restricted stock units that will vest within 60 days of February 15, 2022.
(12)Consists of (i) 8,798,704 shares held by Inclusive Capital, as described above in footnote (2) and (ii) 3,373 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the settlement of restricted stock units that will vest within 60 days of February 15, 2022.
(13)Consists of (i) 10,143,610 shares of Common Stock, (ii) 544,527 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of options exercisable within 60 days of February 15, 2022 and (iii) 237,405 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the settlement of restricted stock units that will vest within 60 days of February 15, 2022.

Equity Compensation Plans at December 31, 2021

The following table shows certain information with respect to all of our equity compensation plans in effect as of December 31, 2021.

Plan CategoryNumber of securities to be issued upon exercise of outstanding stock options, warrants and rights (a)Weighted- average exercise price of outstanding stock options, warrants and rights (b)Number of securities remaining available for issuance under equity compensation plans (excluding securities reflected in column (a))
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders(1)
2018 Equity Incentive Plan4,083,514 $0.33 
2021 Equity Incentive Plan5,824,391 0.51 4,092,429 
2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan— — 1,966,656 (2)
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders— — — 
Total9,907,905 $0.44 6,059,085 


(1) The equity compensation plans approved by security holders are described in Note 14 — Stock Compensation and Other Benefit Plans to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report and include the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan, the 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan and the 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, which were approved by our stockholders.

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(2) Total shares remaining available for issuance under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan includes the shares that will be issued upon the closing of the offering period that commenced December 1, 2021 and ends on May 31, 2022.


Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Other than compensation arrangements for our directors and executive officers, which are described elsewhere in “Executive Compensation”, below is a description of transactions since January 1, 2020 to which we were a party or will be a party, in which:

the amounts involved exceeded or will exceed $120,000; and

any of our directors, executive officers or holders of more than 5% of our capital stock, or any member of the immediate family of, or person sharing the household with, the foregoing persons, had or will have a direct or indirect material interest.

Registration Right Agreement

In connection with measuring the fair valueclosing of its assetsthe Business Combination, we entered into the Amended and liabilities,Restated Registration Rights Agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) on January 29, 2021, with Novus and certain stockholders, pursuant to which such holders of Registrable Securities (as defined therein), subject to certain conditions, are entitled to certain registration rights. Pursuant to the Company seeksRegistration Rights Agreement, we agreed that, within 30 days following the closing of the Business Combination, we will file with the SEC (at our sole cost and expense) a registration statement registering the resale of such Registrable Securities, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to maximizehave such registration statement declared effective by the useSEC as soon as reasonably practicable after the filing thereof. Certain of observable inputs (market data obtainedsuch stockholders has been granted demand underwritten offering registration rights and all of such stockholders have been granted piggyback registration rights. The Registration Rights Agreement does not provide for any cash penalties by us if we fail to satisfy any of our obligations under the Registration Rights Agreement. The stockholders may not exercise their registration rights after the seven-year anniversary of the closing of the Business Combination.

Lock-Up Agreements

In connection with the closing of the Business Combination certain of our stockholders agreed, subject to certain exceptions, not to, without the prior written consent of our Board, (i) sell, offer to sell, contract or agree to sell, hypothecate, pledge, grant any option to purchase or otherwise dispose of or agree to dispose of, directly or indirectly, or establish or increase a put equivalent position or liquidate or decrease a call equivalent position within the meaning of Section 16 of the Exchange Act, and the rules and regulations of the SEC promulgated thereunder, any shares of Common Stock held by them immediately after the closing of the Business Combination, or issuable upon the exercise of options to purchase shares of Common Stock held by them immediately after the closing of the Business Combination, or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock held by them immediately after the closing of the Business Combination (the “Lock-up Shares”), (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of any of the Lock-up Shares, whether any such transaction is to be settled by delivery of such securities, in cash or otherwise or (iii) publicly announce any intention to effect any transaction specified in clause (i) or (ii) provided, however, that with respect to the initial stockholders of Novus listed on Schedule C of the Business Combination Agreement (the “Novus Initial Stockholders”), the Lock-up Shares are limited to the 2,500,000 shares held by Novus Initial Stockholders of Novus common stock initially purchased by the Novus Initial Stockholders in a private placement in connection with Novus’s initial public offering of units, consummated on May 19, 2020, (the “Novus IPO”).

With respect to 50% of the Lock-up Shares (the “Early Release Shares”), the Lock-Up Period (as defined in the Lock-Up Agreement) terminated on January 29, 2022, which was the earlier of (i) 365 days after the Closing Date or (ii) the day after the date on which the closing price of the Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 180 days after the closing of the Business Combination. With respect to the shares held by any signatory of the Lock-Up Agreement that were not Early Release Shares, the Lock-up Period terminated on January 29, 2022, which was
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the earlier of (i) 365 days after the closing of the Business Combination or (ii) the closing of a sale, merger, liquidation, or exchange offer transaction after the closing of the Business Combination.

Novus Related Agreements

In March 2020, the Novus Initial Stockholders purchased an aggregate of 2,500,000 shares of Novus common stock in a private placement for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. In addition, in March 2020, Novus issued an aggregate of 150,000 shares of Novus common stock to the designees of EarlyBirdCapital.

Business Combination Private Placement

In connection with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, Novus entered into Subscription Agreements with the Subscribers, pursuant to which the Subscribers agreed to purchase, and Novus agreed to sell the Subscribers, an aggregate of 37,500,000 shares of Novus common stock, for a purchase price of $10.00 per share and an aggregate purchase price of $375.0 million, in a private placement pursuant to the Subscription Agreements (the “PIPE”). Concurrent with the closing of the Business Combination:

Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P., which is affiliated with Jeffrey Ubben and is an owner of greater than 5% of our capital stock, purchased 2,000,000 shares of Novus common stock in the PIPE for an aggregate purchase price of $20.0 million;

Peter Halt, our former Chief Financial Officer, purchased 40,000 shares of Novus common stock in the PIPE for an aggregate purchase price of $400,000;

Robert J. Laikin, Larry M. Paulson, Heather Goodman, and Bradley Bostic, each a director of Novus, or their affiliates purchased 125,000 shares, 100,000 shares, 50,000 shares and 75,000 shares, respectively, at an aggregate purchase price of $1.25 million, $1.0 million, $500,000 and $750,000, respectively.

Private Warrants

Simultaneously with the Novus IPO, the Novus Initial Stockholders purchased an aggregate of 3,250,000 Private Warrants at a price of $1.00 per Private Warrant ($3.25 million in the aggregate) in a private placement. Each Private Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Novus common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. Proceeds from independent sources)the Private Warrants were added to the proceeds from the Novus IPO held in the trust account. If Novus did not complete an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of Novus IPO, the proceeds from the sale of the Private Warrants would have expired worthless. The Private Warrants are non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the Novus Initial Stockholders or their permitted transferees.

Promissory Note

From March through May 2020, Robert J. Laikin, Novus’s Chairman, loaned Novus an aggregate of $97,525 under a $150,000 promissory note to minimizecover expenses related to the useNovus IPO. These loans were non-interest bearing and were repaid with the proceeds from the Novus IPO.

Sponsor Support Agreement

On September 28, 2020, Novus, Legacy AppHarvest and the Novus Initial Stockholders entered into the Sponsor Support Agreement pursuant to which the Novus Initial Stockholders agreed to vote all of unobservable inputs (internal assumptions about how market participants wouldtheir shares of Novus common stock in favor of the approval and adoption of the Business Combination. Additionally, such Novus Initial Stockholders agreed, among other things, not to (a) transfer any of their shares of Novus common stock (or enter into any arrangement with respect thereto), subject to certain customary exceptions, (b) enter into any voting arrangement that is inconsistent with the Sponsor Support Agreement or (c) exercise their redemption rights in connection with the Merger.

Private Placements of Securities by Legacy AppHarvest Prior to the Closing of the Business Combination

Series B Preferred Stock Financing
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Between December 2019 and February 2020, Legacy AppHarvest issued and sold an aggregate of 2,631,972 shares of our Series B Preferred Stock at a purchase price assetsof $4.1681 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $11.0 million. Each share of our Series B Preferred Stock converted into one share of Common Stock immediately prior to the closing of the Business Combination.

The table below sets forth the number of shares of Series B Preferred Stock purchased by our related parties:

StockholderShares of Series B Preferred StockTotal Purchase Price
CEFF AppHarvest Equity Holdings, LLC(1)1,079,628$4,499,997 
Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P.(2)719,7522,999,998
Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, LP(3)359,8761,499,999
(1)David Chen, a former member of our Board, is the chief executive officer and chairman of Equilibrium Capital Group, the manager of CEFF AppHarvest Equity Holdings, LLC, a beneficial owner of greater than 5% of our capital stock.
(2)Jeffrey Ubben, a member of our Board, is the controlling member of the management committee of Inclusive Capital Partners, L.L.C., the general partner of Inclusive Capital Partners, L.P., the investment manager to Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P., an owner of greater than 5% of our capital stock.
(3)Anna Mason, a member of our Board, is a partner of Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, LP, a beneficial owner of greater than 5% of our capital stock.

Series C Preferred Stock Financing

In July 2020, Legacy AppHarvest issued and liabilities). sold an aggregate of 5,130,658 shares of our Series C Preferred Stock at a purchase price of $5.4865 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $28.1 million. Each share of our Series C Preferred Stock converted into one share of Common Stock immediately prior to the closing of the Business Combination.

The following fair value hierarchytable below sets forth the number of shares of Series C Preferred Stock purchased by our related parties:

StockholderShares of Series C Preferred StockTotal Purchase Price
Narya Capital Fund I, L.P.(1)1,366,991 7,499,996 
Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P.(2)1,275,858 6,999,995 
CEFF AppHarvest Equity Holdings, LLC(3)452,173 2,480,847 
Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, LP(4)291,624 1,599,995 
Couch Holdings II, LLC(5)23,839 130,793 

(1)J.D. Vance, a former member of our Board, is the managing partner of Narya Capital Management LLC, the general partner of Narya Capital Fund I, L.P., a beneficial owner of greater than 5% of our capital stock.
(2)Jeffrey Ubben, a member of our Board, is the controlling member of the management committee of Inclusive Capital Partners, L.L.C., the general partner of Inclusive Capital Partners, L.P., the investment manager to Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P., an owner of greater than 5% of our capital stock.
(3)David Chen, a former member of our Board, is the chief executive officer and chairman of Equilibrium Capital Group, the manager of CEFF AppHarvest Equity Holdings, LLC, a beneficial owner of greater than 5% of our capital stock.
(4)Anna Mason, a member of our Board, is a partner of Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, LP, a beneficial owner of greater than 5% of our capital stock.
(5)Gregory Couch, a member of our Board, is affiliated with Couch Holdings II, LLC.

Convertible Promissory Note

In connection with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, Legacy AppHarvest entered into the Legacy AppHarvest Convertible Notes in the principal amount of $30.0 million with Inclusive Capital Partners Spring Master Fund, L.P., which is usedaffiliated with Jeffrey Ubben and is an owner of greater than 5% of our capital stock. The notes accrued interest at 8.0% per year. Immediately prior to classify assetsthe Effective Time, Novus assumed the Legacy AppHarvest Convertible Notes. At the
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Effective Time, the outstanding principal and liabilities basedunpaid accrued interest due on the observable inputsLegacy AppHarvest Convertible Notes were converted into an aggregate of 3,242,336 shares of Common Stock in accordance with the terms of such Legacy AppHarvest Convertible Notes, and unobservable inputs usedsuch converted Legacy AppHarvest Convertible Notes ceased to exist, and any liens securing obligations under the Legacy AppHarvest Convertible Notes were released.

Agreements with Equilibrium Controlled Environment Foods Fund, LLC and its affiliates

Equipment Loan Agreement

In May 2020, Legacy AppHarvest and AppHarvest Morehead, our wholly-owned subsidiary, entered into a commercial note (the “Note”) and loan agreement (the “Equipment Loan”) with Morehead Farm LLC (“Morehead Farm”) pursuant to which Morehead Farm loaned us the principal amount of $2.0 million at an annual interest rate equal to 9.5% in order to valuefinance the assetspurchase of certain equipment associated with the Morehead CEA facility (the “Financed Equipment”). In accordance with the terms of the Note, Legacy AppHarvest granted Morehead Farm a first priority security interest in the Financed Equipment.

The Equipment Loan was terminated in accordance with its terms when Legacy AppHarvest began partially occupying the Morehead CEA facility in October 2020 and liabilities:

Level 1:Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. An active market for an asset or liability is a market in which transactions for the asset or liability occur with sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis.
Level 2:Observable inputs other than Level 1 inputs. Examples of Level 2 inputs include quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities and quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.
Level 3:Unobservable inputs based on our assessment of the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability.

the principal and interest Legacy AppHarvest owed under the Equipment Loan Agreement was included in the purchase price under the Membership Interest Purchase and Sale Agreement (the “MIPSA”).


Right of First Refusal Agreement

In May 2019, Legacy AppHarvest entered into a right of first refusal agreement (the “ROFR Agreement”) with Equilibrium pursuant to which Legacy AppHarvest granted Equilibrium a right of first refusal to finance the construction of any greenhouse built by us within a certain distance of the Morehead CEA facility for a period of five years. If we receive a bona fide offer from a third party for the financing of such a project, we must notify Equilibrium of the material terms of the proposed financing, and Equilibrium has the right, but not the obligation, to participate in the financing on the same terms and conditions. Either party may terminate the ROFR Agreement in the event of an uncured breach by the other party of any representation or warranty, if the other party fails to perform any material obligation under the ROFR Agreement (subject to cure periods), if the other party admits in writing its inability to pay its debts as they become due, or commences or is subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, receivership or similar proceedings.

Concurrent with the closing of the MIPSA described below, we and Equilibrium entered into an amendment to the ROFR Agreement (the “ROFR Amendment”). Under the ROFR Agreement as amended by the ROFR Amendment, Equilibrium has a right of first refusal to act as the financier for the construction by us or our affiliates of any greenhouse within a specified geographic area in the United States that is structured as a sale-leaseback or build-to-suit lease financing. Equilibrium’s right of first refusal applies to projects that exceed a certain dollar threshold and does not apply to projects which we finance ourselves or in combination with any traditional mortgage, equipment or other commercial lender financing of a project. The other material provisions of the ROFR Agreement remain the same.

Membership Interest Purchase and Sale Agreement

On March 1, 2021, we closed on the MIPSA with Equilibrium that we entered into in December 2020, pursuant to which we purchased from Equilibrium 100% of the membership interests in Morehead Farm. The purchase price for Morehead Farm was approximately $125 million, which was equal to a multiple of Equilibrium’s cost to acquire, develop and construct the Morehead CEA facility. At closing, Morehead Farm, a subsidiary of Equilibrium that owns the Morehead CEA facility, became our wholly owned subsidiary.

Concurrent with the closing of the MIPSA, the Master Lease Agreement and ancillary agreements related thereto terminated. In addition, the ROFR Amendment described above was executed.

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Stockholder Support Agreement

In September 2020, Novus, Legacy AppHarvest’s and certain Legacy AppHarvest’s stockholders, including holders affiliated with members of our Board and beneficial owners of greater than 5% of our capital stock, entered into the Stockholder Support Agreement, whereby such stockholders agreed to vote all of their shares of our capital stock in favor of the approval and adoption of the Business Combination. Additionally, such stockholders agreed, among other things, not to transfer any of their shares of common stock and our preferred stock (or enter into any arrangement with respect thereto), subject to certain customary exceptions, or enter into any voting arrangement that is inconsistent with the Stockholder Support Agreement.

Arrangements with R. Geoff Rochester

Mr. Rochester, a member of our Board, was our Chief Marketing Officer from August 2020 until April 2021 when he resigned in connection with his appointment to the Board. In that capacity, he received $59,911 in salary ($185,000 base salary prorated for his period of employment) and a $863,394 long-term incentive award of restricted stock units in the year ended December 31, 2020. Mr. Rochester also provided consulting services to the Company from July 2019 to August 2020, for which he received cash compensation totaling $56,767 from January 2020 through August 2020. From April 2021 to September 2021, the Company and Mr. Rochester entered into a consulting agreement pursuant to which he received cash compensation equal to approximately $15,500 per month for six months.

Indemnification Agreements

We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our executive officers and directors. The indemnification agreements require us to indemnify our executive officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law.

Related Person Transactions Policy

Our Board has adopted a written related person transactions policy that sets forth our policies and procedures regarding the identification, review, consideration and oversight of “related person transactions.” For purposes of our policy only, a “related person transaction” is a transaction, arrangement or relationship (or any series of similar transactions, arrangements or relationships) in which we or any of our subsidiaries are participants involving an amount that exceeds $120,000, in which any “related person” has a material interest.

Transactions involving compensation for services provided to us as an employee, consultant or director will not be considered related person transactions under this policy. A related person is any executive officer, director, nominee to become a director or a holder of more than 5% of any class of our voting securities (including Common Stock) including any of their immediate family members and affiliates, including entities owned or controlled by such persons.

Under the policy, the related person in question or, in the case of transactions with a holder of more than 5% of any class of our voting securities, an officer with knowledge of a proposed transaction, must present information regarding the proposed related person transaction to our Audit Committee (or, where review by our Audit Committee would be inappropriate, to another independent body of our board) for review. To identify related person transactions in advance, we will rely on information supplied by our executive officers, directors and certain significant stockholders. In considering related person transactions, our Audit Committee will take into account the relevant available facts and circumstances, which may include, but are not limited to:

the risks, costs, and benefits to us;

the impact on a director’s independence in the event the related person is a director, immediate family member of a director or an entity with which a director is affiliated;

the terms of the transaction;

the availability of other sources for comparable services or products; and

the terms available to or from, as the case may be, unrelated third parties.
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Our Audit Committee will approve only those transactions that it determines are fair to us and in our best interests.

Director Independence

As required under Nasdaq listing standards, a majority of the members of a listed company’s Board must qualify as “independent,” as affirmatively determined by the Board. The Board consults with the Company’s counsel to ensure that the Board’s determinations are consistent with relevant securities and other laws and regulations regarding the definition of “independent,” including those set forth in pertinent listing standards of Nasdaq, as in effect from time to time.

The Board has reviewed of the independence of each director. Based on information provided by each director concerning her or his background, employment and affiliations, the Board determined that none of the directors, other than Messrs. Webb, Lee and Rochester, has any relationships that would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director and that each of the directors is “independent” as that term is defined under the Nasdaq listing standards. In making these determinations, the Board considered the current and prior relationships that each non-employee director has with our company and all other facts and circumstances the Board deems relevant in determining their independence.

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services

In connection with the closing of the Business Combination on January 29, 2021, Marcum LLP (“Marcum”) was dismissed as our independent registered public accounting firm. This decision was approved by the Board. Marcum served as the independent registered public accounting firm for Novus prior to the Business Combination.

In connection with the closing of the Business Combination on January 29, 2021, the Board approved the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP (“EY”) as our independent registered public accounting firm. EY served as the independent registered accounting firm for Legacy AppHarvest prior to the Business Combination.

The following table presents information abouttables present the Company’s assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basisaggregate fees billed by EY and Marcum to us (including Legacy AppHarvest, in the case of EY) for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Ernst & Young LLP
December 31,
20212020
(in thousands)
Audit Fees(1)
$1,112 $1,645 
Audit-Related Fees(2)
125 — 
Tax Fees(3)
57 — 
All Other Fees— — 
Total Fees$1,294 $1,645 

(1)Audit fees for 2021 consisted of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of AppHarvest, Inc.’s 2021 consolidated financial statements and internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2020, and indicates2021, the fair value hierarchyreviews of the valuation inputs the Company utilized to determine such fair value:

Description Level December 31,
2020
 
Assets:      
Marketable securities held in Trust Account 1 $100,048,410 

NOTE 10 — SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up to the date that the2021 interim condensed consolidated financial statements, audit services in connection with the accounting for the Business Combination, and audit services provided in connection with other regulatory filings and offerings. Audit fees for 2020 consisted of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of Legacy AppHarvest’s consolidated financial statements (2018, 2019 and 2020), the reviews of the applicable historical interim condensed consolidated financial statements, and audit services provided in connection with other regulatory filings and offerings, including the regulatory filings associated with the Business Combination and related financings.

(2)Audit-related fees in 2021 relate to acquisition related due diligence services.
(3)Tax fees in 2021 consist of tax compliance and related activities.

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Marcum
December 31,
20212020
(in thousands)
Audit Fees(1)
$150 $127 
Audit-Related Fees— — 
Tax Fees(2)
— 
All Other Fees— — 
Total Fees$158 $127 

(1) Audit fees in 2020 consisted of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of Novus’s year-end financial statements and services that were issued. Based uponnormally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. This includes aggregate fees billed by Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of Novus’s annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in its Forms 10-Q for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC for the period from March 5, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020. Audit fees in 2021 consisted of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of Novus’ restated 2020 financial statements.
(2) Tax fees consisted of fees billed for professional services relating to tax compliance, tax planning and tax advice.

All fees incurred subsequent to the closing of the Business Combination in January 2021 were pre-approved by our Audit Committee.

PRE-APPROVAL POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The Audit Committee is responsible for appointing, setting compensation, and overseeing the work of EY as our independent registered public accounting firm. The Audit Committee has established a policy regarding pre-approval of all audit and non-audit services provided by the independent registered public accounting firm.

On an ongoing basis, management communicates specific projects and/or categories of service for which the advance approval of the Audit Committee is requested. The Audit Committee reviews these requests and scope of services and through discussions with EY and management, advises management if the Audit Committee approves the engagement of EY. The Audit Committee authorizes its Chair to pre-approve all non-audit services on behalf of the Audit Committee during periods between regularly scheduled meetings, subject to ratification by the Audit Committee. On a periodic basis, management and/or EY reports to the Audit Committee regarding the actual spending for such projects and services compared to the approved amounts. The services performed by EY may include audit services, audit-related services, tax services, and, in limited circumstances, other services.

During each of the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Audit Committee approved all of the services provided by EY in accordance with the foregoing policies and procedures.
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Part IV

Item 15.Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules
Financial Statements and Financial Statement Schedules

See “Index to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Part II, Item 8 of this review,Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Exhibits
ExhibitIncorporated by Reference
NumberDescriptionFormFile No.ExhibitFiling Date
2.1+ Form 8-K001-392882.1September 29, 2020
3.1Form 8-K001-392883.1February 2, 2021
3.2Form 8-K001-392883.2February 2, 2021
4.1Form S-4/A333-2494214.4December 1, 2020
4.2Form 10-K/A001-392884.3June 2, 2021
4.3Form 8-K001-392884.1May 20, 2020
4.4*
10.1Form 8-K001-3928810.3September 29, 2020
10.2Form 8-K001-3928810.3February 2, 2021
10.3Form S-4/A333-24942110.25December 1, 2020
10.4Form 8-K001-3928810.5February 2, 2021
10.5Form S-4/A333-24942110.24December 21, 2020
10.6Form S-4/A333-24942110.32January 7, 2021
10.7Form S-4/A333-24942110.28December 21, 2020
10.8Form S-4/A333-24942110.29December 21, 2020
10.9Form 8-K/A001-3928810.1March 2, 2021
10.10Form 8-K/A001-3928810.2March 2, 2021
10.11Form 8-K/A001-3928810.3March 2, 2021
10.12Form 8-K/A001-3928810.4March 2, 2021
10.13Form 10-Q001-3928810.2November 10, 2021
10.14Form8-K/A001-3928810.5March 2, 2021
10.15Form 8-K/A001-3928810.6March 2, 2021
10.16Form 8-K/A001-3928810.7March 2, 2021
10.17Form 10-Q001-3928810.3November 10, 2021
10.18^+Form S-4/A333-24942110.20December 4, 2020
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10.19^Form S-4/A333-24942110.31December 21, 2020
10.20^Form S-4/A333-24942110.23December 1, 2020
10.21^+Form S-4/A333-24942110.30December 4, 2020
10.22^Form 8-K001-3928810.1March 2, 2021
10.23Form S-1333-25296410.22March 2, 2021
10.24Form 8-K001-3928810.1March 29, 2021
10.25Form 8-K001-3928810.2March 29, 2021
10.26^Form 10-Q001-3928810.4November 10, 2021
10.27^Form 10-Q001-3928810.5November 10, 2021
10.28Form 10-Q001-3928810.6November 10, 2021
10.29Form 10-Q001-3928810.7November 10, 2021
10.30^Form 10-Q001-3928810.8November 10, 2021
10.31*
10.32Form 8-K001-3928810.1June 15, 2021
10.33Form 8-K001-3928810.1December 15, 2021
10.34Form 8-K001-3928810.2December 15, 2021
10.35*
21.1*
23.1*
24.1Power of Attorney (included on signature page)
31.1*
31.2*
32.1**
101.INS*Inline XBRL Instance Document (the instance document does not appear in the interactive data file because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document)
101.CAL*Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.SCH*Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.DEF*Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
101.LAB*Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Labels Linkbase Document
114

101.PRE*Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
104*Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101)

*Filed herewith.
**
In accordance with Item 601(b)(32)(ii) of Regulation S-K and SEC Release Nos. 33-8238 and 34-47986, Final Rule:
Management’s Reports on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting and Certification of Disclosure in Exchange Act Periodic Reports, the certifications furnished in Exhibits 32.1 and 32.2 hereto are deemed to accompany this Annual Report on Form 10-K and will not be deemed “filed” for purpose of Section 18 of the Exchange Act. Such certifications will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that the registrant specifically incorporates it by reference.
+Certain of the exhibits and schedules to this Exhibit have been omitted in accordance with Regulation S-K Item 601. The registrant agrees to furnish a copy of all omitted exhibits and schedules to the SEC upon its request.
^Certain portions of this exhibit (indicated by asterisks) have been omitted because they are not material and are the type that AppHarvest, Inc. treats as private or confidential.
(b) Financial Statement Schedules
Schedules not listed above have been omitted because the information required to be set forth therein is not applicable or is shown in the financial statements or notes thereto.

Item 16.Form 10-K Summary

Not applicable.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
AppHarvest, Inc.
Dated: March 1, 2022
By:/s/ Jonathan Webb
Jonathan Webb
Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Jonathan Webb and Loren Eggleton, jointly and severally, as his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign this Annual Report on Form 10-K of AppHarvest, Inc., and any or all amendments thereto, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other than as describeddocuments in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite or necessary to be done in and about the premises hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or his, her or their substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosurefollowing persons on behalf of the registrant and in the consolidated financial statements. 

The Company’s stockholders approvedcapacities and on the Proposed Transactions on January 29, 2021.

dates indicated.

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F-16
SignatureTitleDate
/s/ Jonathan WebbChief Executive Officer, Chairperson and DirectorMarch 1, 2022
Jonathan Webb(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ Loren EggletonChief Financial OfficerMarch 1, 2022
Loren Eggleton(Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer)
/s/ David LeePresident and DirectorMarch 1, 2022
David Lee
/s/ Kiran BhatrajuDirectorMarch 1, 2022
Kiran Bhatraju
/s/ Ciara A. BurnhamDirectorMarch 1, 2022
Ciara A. Burnham
/s/ Greg CouchDirectorMarch 1, 2022
Greg Couch
/s/ J. Kevin WillisDirectorMarch 1, 2022
J. Kevin Willis
/s/ Anna MasonDirectorMarch 1, 2022
Anna Mason
/s/ R. Geof RochesterDirectorMarch 1, 2022
R. Geof Rochester
/s/ Martha StewartDirectorMarch 1, 2022
Martha Stewart
/s/ Jeffrey UbbenDirectorMarch 1, 2022
Jeffrey Ubben

117