Table of Contents

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

Commission file number: 000-18730

DarkPulse, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

(800)436-1436

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, including Area Code)

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

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.   Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the 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 past 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes ☐ No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically, every Interactive Data File pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

Yes ☐No ☒

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

If an emerging growth company, indicate by 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 Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant 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. ☐

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company, as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.  Yes  ☐No☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of the last business day of the registrants most recently completed second fiscal quarter, based on the price at which the common equity was last sold on the OTC Markets on June 30, 2022 was approximately $120,153,597. For purposes of this computation only, all officers, directors and 10% or greater stockholders of the registrant are deemed to be “affiliates.”

The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, outstanding as of June 22, 2023, was 7,312,087,375.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “Form 10-K”) for DarkPulse, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), and the exhibits attached hereto contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward looking statements concern the Company’s anticipated results and developments in the Company’s operations in future periods, planned development of the Company’s technology, plans related to its business and other matters that may occur in the future. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Such forward-looking statements include, among others, those statements including the words “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “believes” and similar language. Our actual results may differ significantly from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section “Risk Factors.” We undertake no obligation to publicly release any revisions to the forward-looking statements or reflect events or circumstances after the date of this report.

Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. These factors include among others:

This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect our forward-looking statements. Some of the important risks and uncertainties that could affect forward-looking statements are described further under the sections titled “Business”, “Risk Factors”, and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We disclaim any obligation subsequently to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

We qualify all the forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-K by the foregoing cautionary statements.

PART I

As used in this Form 10-K, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” and the “Company” refer to DarkPulse, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its subsidiaries.

Corporate Overview

Organization

DarkPulse, Inc. (“DarkPulse” or the "Company") is a technology-security company incorporated in 1989 as KleverMarketing, Inc. One of our principal wholly-owned subsidiaries, DarkPulse Technologies Inc. (“DPTI”), originally started as a technology spinout from the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. DPTI is comprised of multiple security platforms: Patented Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis (“BOTDA”)  Fiber Optic sensor systems and Satellite Communications services.

On July 20, 2018, we filed a Certificate of Amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation with the State of Delaware, changing the name of the Company to “DarkPulse, Inc.” We filed a corporate action notification with FINRA, and our ticker symbol was changed to “DPLS.”

Our security and monitoring systems will be delivered in applications for critical infrastructure/ key resources such as but not limited to border security, pipelines, the oil and gas industry and mine safety. Current uses of fiber optic distributed sensor technology have been limited to quasi-static, long-term structural health monitoring due to the time required to obtain the data and its poor precision. Our patented BOTDA dark-pulse sensor technology allows for the monitoring of highly dynamic environments due to its greater resolution and accuracy. 

Our Operating Units

Optilan

Founded in 1990, Optilan is an international leading independent security and communications systems integrator. Providing specialist technologies and techniques, Optilan helps to protect businesses and organizations from external threats in the telecommunications, energy, rail, critical network infrastructure, pipeline integrity systems, renewables and security sectors. Headquartered in Warwick, United Kingdom with a 30-year history, Optilan’s customers trust it to keep the integrity of their assets safe and secure, by managing the life cycle delivery risk of Optilan’s solutions. By fostering a collaborative design approach to complex problems, Optilan provides innovative solutions, custom fit to even the most demanding of sites and scale of projects. Importantly, Optilan’s commitment to its safety culture remains unaverred, to ensure that everyone goes home safely every day. Optilan orchestrates business resilience with a suite of end-to-end solutions, combined with connectivity and professional service at a global level. Today's business environment is more dynamic than ever, with continuous change and disruption accepted as the new normal. Optilan complements its tailored, integrated expertise with a curated ecosystem of leading manufacturers, to achieve both high quality and enduring results. Optilan is proud to foster a unique culture full of talented individuals. Optilan’s sector focus ensures that its account teams are fully accredited in their operational areas. Optilan is committed to creating individually tailored solutions, using collaborative techniques and programming tools to deliver the networks of the future. Optilan has provided integrated solutions for leading oil and gas, industrial and energy companies around the world. As an industry leader in deploying communication networks with exceptional reliability, Optilan’s reputation for delivering the highest quality products remains unsurpassed. This spans mobile, broadband, security systems and customer premise works. Optilan’s professionals have the skill to adopt and embed its expertise into existing platforms, processes, and cultures, delivering exceptional value for its clients. Beyond Optilan’s operational scope, Optilan strives to consider the impact of its global footprint and mitigate associated environmental and sustainability risks. These factors combined set Optilan apart and establish why customers continue to trust and invest in Optilan’s services.

Remote Intelligence

Remote Intelligence (“RI”) provides unmanned aerial drone and unmanned ground crawler (“UGC”) services to a variety of clients in all markets, including, specifically: industrial mapping and ecosystem, search and rescue, and pipeline security. RI started in 2013 with a simple vision, to use the new and developing field of unmanned aerial vehicles to produce higher quality, safer, and more effective products for a variety of markets. RI strives to equip, educate and advance the use of the most advanced unmanned aerial systems and unmanned ground crawlers in the United States and around the world for commercial, government, and domestic use. RI’s top priorities are to find safe and ethical ways to use this new and exciting field of technology to make life better. RI provides holistic intelligence consultation and solutions including full-service methane detection and monitoring and quick, comprehensive site mapping and aerial inspection services. RI specializes in fully integrated, geo-rectified, 3D modeled mapping and artificial intelligence (“AI”) for industrial applications, specializing in the energy and environmental industries, with AI and live streaming capabilities anywhere in the world. RI also provides aerial survey, video inspection services, emergency support services, wildlife and habitat surveys, and comprehensive system design, training, and sales for both the commercial and private sectors. Integrating the latest tech solutions like artificial intelligence, RI is globally-connected with a base of operation in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.

TerraData Unmanned

Comprised of a team with more than 30 years cumulative experience in the unmanned industry, TerraData Unmanned (“TerraData”) custom manufactures National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) compliant drones and unmanned ground crawlers to meet the needs of its customers. TerraData has successfully delivered a custom drone platform per a customer’s specifications which exceeds current industry offering by more than 30 minutes. The team has manufactured, and successfully flight tested a Quad Copter drone with 1.5KG payload capabilities that delivers more than 60 minutes of continuous flight. This cutting-edge design is a combination of proprietary software and hardware. The custom platform offers NDAA compliant autopilot, communications links, Technical Standard Orders (“TSO”) certified GPS unit and ground control station. Future designs include integrating Real-Time Kinematic (“RTK”) for mapping, methane detectors, and true terrain following capabilities. There are also improvements scheduled that are intended to further extend the endurance and provide over 4KG of payload capacity, not including batteries. TerraData has also announced the research, development and successful testing of an autonomous crawler soon to be released to the market with methane and multi gas detection capabilities. Working seamlessly with its partners at DarkPulse and its subsidiary companies, TerraData can custom design, build and operate a system to meet our customers' needs 24 hours a day 365 days a year around the globe.

Wildlife Specialists

Wildlife Specialists (“WS”) was founded in 2007 to provide clients with comprehensive wildlife and environmental assessment, planning, and monitoring services. WS currently maintains two regional offices located in north central and southeastern Pennsylvania and is available to provide services to clients nationwide and around the globe. WS’ staff is made up of well-established professionals who have a wide range of experience in wildlife management, research, and monitoring at the local and statewide levels throughout the United States. In addition, WS has specific expertise in providing the full range of sensitive species and habitat assessments necessary for your development projects. WS’ mission is to provide consulting services that use the latest technology to produce the highest quality results compatible with its clients’ management goals and the appropriate protocols developed by state and federal wildlife management agencies. WS is fully insured to industry standards and committed to the safety of its staff, clients, and the public. WS has maintained safety certification through ISNetWorld and other third-party certifiers. WS is also officially PennDOT, General Services Administration (“GSA”), Small Business, and HUBZone certified.

TJM West Electronics

TJM West Electronics (“TJM”) is an ISO9001 and AS9100 certified electronics and electro-mechanical assembly operation. TJM operates out of a high tech, 20,000 sq. ft. facility in Tempe, Arizona. TJM’s assembly team is trained to IPC 610 and J-STD-001 standards, Class 2 and 3. TJM has been in business since 1999. TJM’s latest website was developed to be a customer interface for rapid costing, build scheduling, open order status, and complete manufacturing history data records. Registered users can enter build and fabrication parameters for quantities of 2-20 units. TJM’s calculator provides itemized labor, printed circuit board (“PCB”) fabrication cost and delivery. Registered users can also access factory floor for the updated status and delivery date of open orders, a review of configuration, quotes and full quality history database.

As a U.S. manufacturer and test of advanced electronics, cables and sub-assemblies, TJM specializes in advanced package and complex confidential architecture (“CCA”) and hardware. Certified to space and flight AS9100D, TJM has over 20 years supplying ultra-high reliability, and fully documented electronic hardware. Per aerospace management standard AS9100D, TJM maintains all material certifications, process and measurement reports electronically as part of a complete quality history record. Manufacturing PCB design services on the most popular platforms including Cadence, Altium, and Mentor, TJM designs output data that integrates seamlessly to its automated manufacturing line. From test development in circuit test (“ICT”) to functional and burn-in, TJM develops a test plan and hardware system to deliver your 100% verified product. Low cost, high reliability manufacturing is the net result of quality planning, optimizing automation technology, operational efficiency, and communication. TJM provides a high value, low-cost domestic solution to replace offshore manufacturing.

Acquisitions

On August 9, 2021, we entered into a Share Purchase Agreement with Optilan Guernsey Limited and Optilan Holdco 2  Limited, pursuant to which we purchased from the sellers all of the issued and outstanding equity interests of Optilan HoldCo 3 Limited, a private company incorporated in England and Wales (“Optilan”), for £1.00. In connection with the acquisition, the Company acquired $14,828,459 in assets and assumed liabilities totaling $25,179,320. As a result of the transaction, Optilan became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. See Note 4 – BUSINESS ACQUISITIONS to the audited financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 on page F-20 herein.

On August 30, 2021, we closed two separate Membership Interest Purchase Agreements with RI and WS pursuant  to which we agreed to pay to the majority stockholder of each of RI and WS an aggregate of 15,000,000 shares of our Common Stock, $500,000 to be paid on the closing date, and an additional $500,000 to be paid 12 weeks from closing date in exchange for 60% ownership of each of RI and WS. As a result of the transactions, RI and WS each became subsidiaries of the Company with the respective non-controlling interests recoded on the consolidated balance sheets.

On September 8, 2021, we entered into and closed the Stock Purchase Agreement with TJM and TJM’s stockholders, pursuant to which we agreed to purchase all of the equity interests in TJM in exchange for $450,000, subject to adjustments as defined in the Stock Purchase Agreement. As a result of the transaction, TJM became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.

Effective October 1, 2021, we entered into and closed the Membership Purchase Agreement with TerraData and Justin Dee, the sole stockholder of TerraData, pursuant to which we agreed to purchase 60% of the equity interests in TerraData in exchange for 3,725,386 shares of our Common Stock and $400,000, subject to adjustments as defined in the Membership Purchase Agreement, to be paid within 12 weeks of closing. As a result of the transaction, TerraData became a subsidiary of the Company.

Global System Dynamics, Inc.

On December 14, 2022, we entered into a Business Combination Agreement (the “BCA”) by, between, and among our company, Global System Dynamics, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“GSD”), and Zilla Acquisition Corp, a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of GSD (the “Merger Sub”). Pursuant to the terms of the BCA, a business combination between us and GSD will be effected through the merger of Merger Sub with and into DarkPulse, with DarkPulse surviving the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of GSD (the “Merger”). Our board of directors has (i) approved and declared advisable the BCA, the Merger and the other transactions contemplated thereby and (ii) resolved to recommend approval of the BCA and related transactions by our stockholders. The total consideration to be paid at closing (the “Merger Consideration”) by GSD to DarkPulse security holders will be valued at $116,518,357.65. The Merger Consideration will be payable in shares of GSD Common Stock, valued at $10.00 per share.

The transactions contemplated by the BCA, and the other transactions contemplated by the other transaction documents contemplated by the BCA (collectively, the “Proposed Business Combination”) will constitute a “Business Combination.” The Business Combination and the transactions contemplated thereby were unanimously approved by the board of directors of the Company on December 14, 2022.

The Business Combination

The BCA provides, among other things, that Merger Sub will merge with and into DarkPulse, with DarkPulse as the surviving company in the merger and, after giving effect to such merger, DarkPulse shall be a wholly-owned subsidiary of GSD. GSD will continue to be named “Global System Dynamics, Inc.” and the combined entity will trade under the symbol “DARK.”

In accordance with the terms and subject to the conditions of the BCA, at the Effective Time, among other things: (i) each GSD Class A Share and each GSD Class B Share that is issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Merger will become one share of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of GSD; (ii) by virtue of the Merger and without any action on the part of any Party or any other Person, each share of DarkPulse Common Stock (other than shares of DarkPulse Common Stock cancelled and extinguished pursuant to Section 2.1(a)(viii) of the BCA) issued and outstanding as of immediately prior to the Effective Time shall be automatically canceled and extinguished and converted into the right to receive that number of GSD Class A Shares equal to the Merger Consideration; provided, however, that any DarkPulse shares that are Restricted Shares shall be converted into restricted GSD Class A Shares, subject to the same vesting, transfer and other restrictions as the applicable Restricted Shares; (iii) by virtue of the Merger and without any action on the part of any Party or any other Person, each share of capital stock of Merger Sub issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time shall be automatically cancelled and extinguished and converted into one share of common stock, par value $0.0001, of DarkPulse; (vi) Dennis O’Leary, Joseph Catalino, George Pappas, Geoff Mullins, Wayne Bale and John Bartrum shall become the directors of GSD, Dennis O’Leary shall become the Chief Executive Officer of GSD and of the surviving company, and J. Richard Iler shall become the Chief Financial Officer of GSD, each to hold office in accordance with the governing documents of GSD until such director’s or officer’s successor is duly elected or appointed and qualified, or until the earlier of their death, resignation or removal; (v) by virtue of the Merger and without any action on the part of any Party or any other Person, each DarkPulse share held immediately prior to the Effective Time by DarkPulse as treasury stock shall be automatically canceled and extinguished, and no consideration shall be paid with respect thereto.

The Business Combination is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2023 but in no event later than August 9, 2023 (unless extended), following the receipt of the required approval by the stockholders of DarkPulse and GSD, approval by the Nasdaq Stock Market (“Nasdaq”) of GSD’s initial listing application filed in connection with the Business Combination, and the fulfillment of other customary closing conditions.

Representations and Warranties; Covenants

The parties to the BCA have agreed to customary representations and warranties for transactions of this type. In addition, the parties to the BCA agreed to be bound by certain customary covenants for transactions of this type, including, among others, covenants with respect to the conduct of the Company and its subsidiaries during the period between execution of the BCA and the Closing. Each of the parties to the BCA has agreed to use its reasonable best efforts to cause all actions and things necessary to consummate and expeditiously implement the Business Combination.

Conditions to Each Party’s Obligations

Under the BCA, the obligations of the parties to consummate the Merger are subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain customary closing conditions of the respective parties, including, without limitation: (i) the applicable waiting period, if any, under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder relating to the Business Combination having expired or been terminated and any other required regulatory approvals applicable to the transactions contemplated by the BCA having been obtained and remaining in full force and effect; (ii) all the DarkPulse Preferred Stock being converted to DarkPulse Common Stock prior to the Effective Time; (iii) no order or law issued by any court of competent jurisdiction or other governmental entity or other legal restraint or prohibition preventing the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination being in effect; (iv) the registration statement on Form S-4 containing the joint proxy statement/prospectus filed by DarkPulse and GSD relating to the BCA and the Merger (the “Registration Statement”) becoming effective in accordance with the provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), no stop order being issued by Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and remaining in effect with respect to the Registration Statement, and no proceeding seeking such a stop order being threatened or initiated by the SEC and remaining pending; (v) GSD’s initial listing application with Nasdaq in connection with the Business Combination having been approved; (vi) GSD’s Board consisting of the number of directors, and comprising the individuals, determined pursuant to the BCA; (vii) the approval and adoption of the BCA and the transactions contemplated thereby by the requisite vote of the DarkPulse’s stockholders; (viii) the approval and adoption of the BCA and the transactions contemplated thereby by the requisite vote of GSD’s stockholders; (ix) after giving effect to the transactions contemplated (including the PIPE Financing), GSD has at least $5,000,001 of net tangible assets (as determined in accordance with Rule 3a51-1(g)(1) of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)) immediately after the Effective Time; (x) the absence of a DarkPulse Material Adverse Effect since the date of the BCA that is continuing, and (xi) the absence of a GSD Material Adverse Effect since the date of the BCA that is continuing.

Termination

The BCA may be terminated under certain customary and limited circumstances at any time prior to the Closing, including, without limitation, (i) by the mutual written consent of GSD and DarkPulse; (ii) by GSD, subject to certain exceptions, if any of the representations or warranties made by DarkPulse are not true and correct or if DarkPulse fails to perform any of its covenants or agreements under the BCA (including an obligation to consummate the Closing) such that certain conditions to the obligations of GSD could not be satisfied and the breach (or breaches) of such representations or warranties or failure (or failures) to perform such covenants or agreements is (or are) not cured or cannot be cured within the earlier of (A) 30 days after written notice thereof, and (B) August 9, 2023 (the “Termination Date”); (iii) by DarkPulse, subject to certain exceptions, if any of the representations or warranties made by us are not true and correct or if GSD fails to perform any of GSD’s covenants or agreements under the BCA (including an obligation to consummate the Closing) such that the condition to the obligations of DarkPulse could not be satisfied and the breach (or breaches) of such representations or warranties or failure (or failures) to perform such covenants or agreements is (or are) not cured or cannot be cured within the earlier of (A) 30 days after written notice thereof, and (B) the Termination Date iv) by either GSD or DarkPulse, if the Closing does not occur on or prior to the Termination Date, unless the breach of any covenants or obligations under the BCA by the party seeking to terminate proximately caused the failure to consummate the transactions contemplated by the BCA; (v) by either GSD or DarkPulse, if (A) any governmental entity shall have issued an order or taken any other action permanently enjoining, restraining or otherwise prohibiting the transactions contemplated by the BCA and such order or other action shall have become final and non-appealable; or (B) if the required DarkPulse or GSD stockholder consent is not obtained; (vi) by GSD, if (A) DarkPulse does not deliver, or cause to be delivered to GSD a Transaction Support Agreement duly executed by certain DarkPulse stockholders or (B) the DarkPulse stockholders meeting has been held, has concluded, DarkPulse stockholders have duly voted, and DarkPulse stockholder approval was not obtained; (vii) by GSD should DarkPulse not deposit into the Trust Account in a timely manner the funds necessary to extend the period for us to complete an initial business combination for an additional period of six months from February 9, 2023, in accordance with, and as required pursuant to, the BCA; and (x) by GSD should: (A) Nasdaq not approve the initial listing application for the combined company with Nasdaq in connection with the Business Combination; (B) the combined company not have satisfied all applicable initial listing requirements of Nasdaq; or (C) the common stock of the combined company not have been approved for listing on Nasdaq prior to the Closing Date.

In the event of the termination of this BCA, the BCA will become void (and there will be no Liability or obligation on the part of the Parties and their respective Non-Party Affiliates) with the exception of Section 5.3(a), this Section 7.2, Article VIII and Article I (to the extent related to the termination), each of which will survive such termination and remain valid and binding obligations of the Parties.

The Stockholder Transaction Support Agreement

Concurrently with, or with respect to a certain stockholder holding all of the shares of Series A Preferred Stock of DarkPulse, within a specified time after the signing of the BCA, the “DarkPulse Stockholder” (collectively, the “Supporting Company Stockholder”) shall duly execute and deliver to GSD a transaction support agreement pursuant to which, among other things, such Supporting DarkPulse Stockholder will agree to, support and vote in favor of the BCA, the Ancillary Documents which DarkPulse is or will be a party and the transactions contemplated thereby (including the Merger).

Our Business

We offer a full suite of engineering, installation and security management solutions to industries and governments. Coupled with our patented BOTDA technology, we provide our customers a comprehensive data stream of critical metrics for assessing the health and security of their infrastructure. Our comprehensive system provides for rapid, precise analysis and responsive activities predetermined by the end-user customer. These responses include the use of “smart” AI platformed cameras, facial recognition technologies and multiple drone platforms. Our User Interface (UI) is cloud based which offers end-users access to their systems on any device located anywhere in the world. Additional programming of the UI is being completed within a game engine that will also offer access via Virtual Reality headsets, allowing end-users to virtually inspection their assets.

Historically, distributed sensor systems have been too costly, slow and limited in their capabilities to attain widespread use. In addition, Brillouin-based sensors have been plagued with temperature and strain cross-sensitivity, i.e. the inability to distinguish between temperature and strain change along the same fiber. The loss of spatial resolution with an increase in fiber length has also limited the use of distributed sensor systems. Due to these shortcomings, existing technologies are unable to succeed within today’s dynamic environments, and needs for more advanced sensor technologies have remained unsatisfied.

By contrast to existing technologies, our BOTDA technology is a distributed-fiber sensing system, based on dark-pulse Brillouin scattering, which reports in real-time on conditions such as temperature, stress, strain corrosion and structural health monitoring of Critical Infrastructure/Key Resources including Bridges, Buildings, Roadways pipelines and mining installations.

Our BOTDA technology’s differentiators from and advantages over existing technologies:

We believe that these key advantages should allow us not only to enter existing markets, but more importantly, to open new market opportunities with new applications. We intend to leverage new applications to target clients that have been unable to make use of distributed fiber optic technology to date.

Revenue

The Company’s revenues are generated primarily from the sales of our services, which consist primarily of advanced technology solutions for integrated communications and security systems, as well as habitat management. The Company’s sales of products are primarily generated from our TJM subsidiaries.

Our Market

Current uses of fiber optic distributed sensor technology have been limited to quasi-static, long-term structural health monitoring due to the time required to obtain the data and its poor precision. Our BOTDA technology allows for the monitoring of highly dynamic environments due to its magnitude of increased resolution and greater accuracy. The resulting high speed, real-time monitoring capabilities of our BOTDA technology should satisfy a broad range of existing and emerging requirements. Use of our BOTDA technology by our customers should result in lower production costs with increased sensing capabilities that can integrate with existing technology and be upgraded cost effectively.

Due to the characteristics of the fiber used in fiber optic sensing, the uses of our BOTDA technology are wide ranging. Optical fiber is hard-wearing, which allows it to be used in environments where other technologies fail (for example, at temperatures ranging from -40°C to 300°C and 1000psi). Additionally, our BOTDA sensors allow for live sensing due to the speed at which the analysis takes place.

Our management team is continually identifying markets in which our BOTDA technology may be readily applied. Once these markets (as described below) have been addressed, our technology may be adapted and applied to new markets.

Structural Monitoring

Temperature Sensing

Security & Defense

Consulting Services:

Additional Potential Markets:

Marketing

We utilize our BOTDA technology as the foundation of our ongoing marketing initiatives. Most notably, the greater magnitude of increased capabilities of our BOTDA technology versus existing bright-pulsing technologies. Existing bright-pulse Brillouin-based sensors have historically been plagued with temperature and strain cross-sensitivity, i.e. the inability to distinguish between temperature and strain change along the same fiber. The loss of spatial resolution with an increase in fiber length is also a limiting factor for the use of distributed sensor systems. Because of these shortcomings, existing bright-pulse Brillouin-based technologies are unable to succeed within today’s dynamic environments, which coincides with our BOTDA technology’s increased capabilities over bright-pulse systems. Our marketing initiatives include daily, broad-based social media engagement, management of our website, email campaigns, national television commercials, magazine ads, and other ongoing initiatives designed to increase awareness of our products and services and drive conversion and adoption rates.

Competition

The overall optical sensing market is projected to reach USD $3.47 billion by 2023 from USD $1.13 billion in 2016, at a CAGR of 15.47% between 2017 and 2023.^[1] We are active in the optical sensing market, including Oil & Gas pipeline health monitoring, Infrastructure, National Border Security applications, and the mining industry. We believe that fiber sensing applications which incorporate our BOTDA technology may provide significant competitive advantages over structural health monitoring applications offered by the long-term leaders in the field, such as Schlumberger, Hewlett-Packard, and Yokogawa, which collectively account for a significant portion of industry sales. These companies, as well as others, have numerous differences in feature sets and functionality, but all share certain basic attributes: a bright-pulse technology as the core of their systems architecture. An architecture designed using bright-pulsing technology has limited sensing capabilities and resolutions of one meter allowing for mostly long-term quasi-static deployments.

However, we utilize our BOTDA technology allowing for multiple applications into those markets unavailable to companies using bright-pulse technology. While many of the companies using bright-pulse technology have attempted to incorporate various sensing techniques into a legacy technology, none have been able to offer the order of magnitude resolutions offered by our patented dark-pulse based BOTDA technology. This magnitude in resolution coupled with our BOTDA technology’s increased data collection speeds allows our technology to be installed into areas of the market that our competitors cannot. Our future financial condition and operating results depend on our ability to provide a high-quality solution as well as increased distribution of the solutions in each of the markets in which we compete or intend to compete within.

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^[1] https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/optical-sensing-market-197592599.html

The markets for our products and services are highly competitive and we are confronted by aggressive competition. These markets are characterized by frequent product introductions and rapid technological advances. Our financial condition and operating results can be adversely affected by these and other industry-wide downward pressures on gross margins. Principal competitive factors important to us include price, product features, relative price and performance, product quality and reliability, marketing and distribution capability, service and support and corporate reputation.

Intellectual Property

Our policy is to protect our technology by, among other things, patents, trade secret protection and copyrights. We have taken security measures to protect our trade secrets and proprietary know-how, to the greatest extent possible. Our means of protecting our proprietary rights may not prove to be adequate and our competitors may independently develop technology or products that are similar to ours or that compete with ours. Trade secret, patent and copyright laws afford only certain protections for our technology and products. The laws of many countries do not protect our proprietary rights to as great an extent as do the laws of the United States. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Third parties may also design around our proprietary rights, which may render our protected technology and products less valuable, if the design around is favorably received in the marketplace.

In addition, any of our products or technology covered by patents or other intellectual property rights, could cause us to be subject to various legal actions. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, or to defend against claims of infringement, invalidity, misappropriation, or other claims.

Through DPTI’s April 2017 Intellectual Property agreement with the University, DPTI was sold, transferred, and assigned U.S. Patent Nos. 7,245,790, 8,643,829, and 9,534,965, each of which are related to our BOTDA dark-pulse technology. In addition, Canadian Patent No. 2,502,275 was also assigned.

Suppliers

We currently rely on a full-time, dedicated, external team of experienced professionals for the coding and maintenance of our products. We believe we have mitigated the associated risks of managing an external team of software and engineering development professionals by incorporating internal management and oversight, as well as appropriate systems, protocols, controls, and procedures and ensuring that we have access to additional qualified professionals to provide like or complementary services.

Government Regulation

Government regulation is not of significant concern for our business nor is government regulation expected to become an impediment to the business in the near- or mid-term as management is currently unaware of any planned or anticipated government regulation that would have a material impact on our business. Our management believes it currently possesses all requisite authority to conduct our business as described in this Prospectus.

Employees

As of June 22, 2023, we had 182 full-time employees and no part-time employees.

Readers should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below.

Our failure to successfully address the risks and uncertainties described below would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and/or results of operations, and the trading price of our common stock may decline and investors may lose all or part of their investment. We cannot assure you that we will successfully address these risks or other unknown risks that may affect our business.

As an enterprise engaged in the commercialization of new technology, our business is inherently risky.  Our common shares are considered speculative during the development of our business operations. Prospective investors should consider carefully the risk factors set out below.

Summary Risk Factors

The following summarizes certain principal factors that make an investment in our Company speculative or risky, all of which are more fully described in the “Risk Factors” section herein. This summary should be read in conjunction with the “Risk Factors” section and should not be relied upon as an exhaustive summary of the material risks facing the Company.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESS

Business interruptions, including any interruptions resulting from COVID-19, could significantly disrupt our operations and could have a material adverse impact on us if the situation continues.

The ongoing coronavirus outbreak which began in China at the beginning of 2020 has impacted various businesses throughout the world, including travel restrictions and the extended shutdown of certain businesses in impacted geographic regions. If the coronavirus outbreak situation should worsen, we may experience disruptions to our business including, but not limited to equipment, to our workforce, or to our business relationships with other third parties.

The extent to which the coronavirus impacts our operations or those of our third-party partners will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the duration of the outbreak, new information that may emerge concerning the severity of the coronavirus and the actions to contain the coronavirus or treat its impact, among others. Any such disruptions or losses we incur could have a material adverse effect on our financial results and our ability to conduct business as expected.

We may be adversely affected by natural disasters, pandemics, and other catastrophic events, and by man-made problems such as war or terrorism, that could disrupt our business operations, and our business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not adequately protect us from a serious disaster.

Natural disasters or other catastrophic events may also cause damage or disruption to our operations, international commerce, and the global economy, and could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. Our business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, fire, power shortages, and other events beyond our control.

In addition, our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, which could harm our business and cause its operating results to suffer. For example, the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and/or the precautionary measures that we have adopted have resulted, and could continue to result, in difficulties or changes to our customer support, or create operational or other challenges, any of which could adversely impact our business and operating results.

Further, war, acts of terrorism, labor activism and other geopolitical unrest could cause disruptions in our business or the businesses of its partners or the economy as a whole. In the event of a natural disaster, including a major earthquake, blizzard, or hurricane, or a catastrophic event such as a fire, power loss, or telecommunications failure, we may be unable to continue our operations and may endure system interruptions, reputational harm, delays in development of our products and services, lengthy interruptions in service, breaches of data security, and loss of critical data, all of which could have an adverse effect on our future operating results.

Escalating global tensions, including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, could negatively impact us.

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine could led to disruption, instability and volatility in global markets and industries that could negatively impact our operations. The U.S. government and other governments in jurisdictions in which we operate have imposed severe sanctions and export controls against Russia and Russian interests and threatened additional sanctions and controls. The impact of these measures, as well as potential responses to them by Russia, is currently unknown and they could adversely affect our business, partners or customers.

If we default on the Secured Debenture, the secured holder could take possession of our assets, including our patents and other intellectual property.

The Secured Debenture issued April 24, 2017, is secured by our assets, which includes our patents and other intellectual property. In the event that we default on the obligations in the Debenture, the secured holder could take possession of our assets, including our patents and other intellectual property. If this were to occur, investors would likely lose all of their investment.

Several of the convertible notes issued by us are in litigation with uncertain outcomes.

We have issued several convertible notes which are currently the subject of litigation (See “Legal Proceedings”). The outcomes of each of these matters is uncertain and we may be required to both expend large sums of resources on both defending against and pursuing our causes of action in each of these proceedings. In addition, there is no certainty that any outcome will be in favor of us and we may be required to pay settlements or judgments the amounts of which may be material to us. In the event that we do not achieve favorable outcomes to each of the outstanding legal proceedings with convertible note holders, it could have a material adverse effect on us and our operations may fail.

Our future growth depends significantly on our marketing efforts, and if our marketing efforts are not successful, our business and results of operations will be harmed.

We have dedicated some, and intend to significantly increase, resources to marketing efforts. Our ability to attract and retain customers depends in large part on the success of these marketing efforts and the success of the marketing channels we use to promote our products and services. Our marketing channels include, but are not limited to, social media, traditional media such as the press, online affiliations, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and offline partnerships.

While our goal remains to increase the strength, recognition and trust in our brand by increasing our customer base and expanding our products and services, if any of our current marketing channels becomes less effective, if we are unable to continue to use any of these channels, if the cost of using these channels was to significantly increase or if we are not successful in generating new channels, we may not be able to attract new customers in a cost-effective manner or increase the use of our products and services. If we are unable to recover our marketing costs through increases in the size, value or other product selection and utilization, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and future prospects.

Our stockholders have limited voting power compared to the holder of our Series A Preferred Stock.

Our CEO, Dennis O’Leary, is the sole holder of our Series A Preferred Stock, will control a majority of the voting power of our Company. For so long as Mr. O’Leary holds all of the shares of Series A Preferred Stock, he is expected to hold a majority of our outstanding voting power and he will control the outcome of matters submitted to a stockholder vote, including the appointment of all directors of the Company.

Our management controls all corporate activities and can approve all transactions, including mergers, without the approval of other stockholders.

Our CEO, Dennis O’Leary, owns 100 shares of our Series A Preferred Stock that gives him the right to a majority of the voting power of the Company. Therefore, our management effectively controls all corporate activities and can approve transactions, including possible mergers, issuance of shares and compensation levels, without the approval of other stockholders. The decisions of our management may not be consistent with or in the best interests of other stockholders.

This capital structure may have anti-takeover effects preventing a change in control transaction that the minority owners of our Common Stock might consider in their best interest.

The ability of our management to control our business may limit or eliminate minority stockholders’ ability to influence corporate affairs.

Our CEO, Dennis O’Leary, owns 100 shares of Series A Preferred Stock that gives him the right to a majority of the voting power of our Company. Because of this beneficial stock ownership, Mr. O’Leary is in a position to continue to elect our entire board of directors, decide all matters requiring stockholder approval, including potential mergers or business changes, and determine our policies. The interests of our management may differ from the interests of our minority stockholders with respect to the issuance of shares, business transactions with or sales to other companies, selection of officers and directors and other business decisions. Our minority stockholders have no way of overriding decisions made by our management. This level of control may also have an adverse impact on the market value of our shares because our management may institute or undertake transactions, policies or programs that may result in losses, may not take any steps to increase our visibility in the financial community and/or may sell sufficient numbers of shares to significantly decrease our price per share.

We have made and expect to continue to make acquisitions that could disrupt our operations and harm our operating results.

Our growth depends upon market growth, our ability to enhance our existing products, and our ability to introduce new products on a timely basis. We intend to continue to address the need to develop new products and enhance existing products through acquisitions of other companies, product lines, technologies, and personnel. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including the following:

Acquisitions may also cause us to:

Mergers and acquisitions are inherently risky and subject to many factors outside of our control, and no assurance can be given that our previous or future acquisitions will be successful and will not materially adversely affect our business, operating results, or financial condition. Failure to manage and successfully integrate acquisitions could materially harm our business and operating results. Prior acquisitions could result in a wide range of outcomes, from successful introduction of new products and technologies to a failure to do so. Even when an acquired company has already developed and marketed products, there can be no assurance that product enhancements will be made in a timely fashion or that pre-acquisition due diligence will have identified all possible issues that might arise with respect to such products.

From time to time, we have made acquisitions that resulted in charges in an individual quarter. These charges may occur in any particular quarter, resulting in variability in our quarterly earnings. In addition, our effective tax rate for future periods is uncertain and could be impacted by mergers and acquisitions. Risks related to new product development also apply to acquisitions.

Acquisitions, joint ventures or other strategic transactions create certain risks and may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Acquisitions, partnerships and joint ventures are part of our growth strategy. We evaluate and expect in the future to evaluate potential strategic acquisitions of, and partnerships or joint ventures with, complementary businesses, services or technologies. We may not be successful in identifying acquisition, partnership and joint venture targets. In addition, we may not be able to successfully finance or integrate any businesses, services or technologies that we acquire or with which we form a partnership or joint venture.

We may not be able to identify suitable acquisition candidates or complete acquisitions in the future, which could adversely affect our future growth; or businesses that we acquire may not perform as well as expected or may be more difficult or expensive to integrate and manage than expected, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. In addition, the process of integrating these acquisitions may disrupt our business and divert our resources.

In addition, acquisitions outside our current operating jurisdictions often involve additional or increased risks including, for example:

These risks may arise for a number of reasons: we may not be able to find suitable businesses to acquire at affordable valuations or on other acceptable terms; we may face competition for acquisitions from other potential acquirers; we may need to borrow money or sell equity or debt securities to the public to finance acquisitions and the terms of these financings may be adverse to us; changes in accounting, tax, securities or other regulations could increase the difficulty or cost for us to complete acquisitions; we may incur unforeseen obligations or liabilities in connection with acquisitions; we may need to devote unanticipated financial and management resources to an acquired business; we may not realize expected operating efficiencies or product integration benefits from an acquisition; we could enter markets where we have minimal prior experience; and we may experience decreases in earnings as a result of non-cash impairment charges.

We cannot ensure that any acquisition, partnership or joint venture we make will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Because of the unique difficulties and uncertainties inherent in technology development, we face a risk of business failure.

Potential investors should be aware of the difficulties normally encountered by companies developing new technology and the high rate of failure of such enterprises. The likelihood of success must be considered in light of the problems, expenses, difficulties, complications and delays encountered in connection with the development of new technology with limited personnel and financial means. These potential problems include, but are not limited to, unanticipated technical problems that extend the time and cost of product development, or unanticipated problems with the operation of our technology or that with which we are licensing that also extend the time and cost of product development.

Successful technical development of our products does not guarantee successful commercialization.

We may successfully complete the technical development for one or all of our product development programs, but still fail to develop a commercially successful product for a number of reasons, including among others the following:

Our success in the market for the products we develop will depend largely on our ability to prove our products’ capabilities. Upon demonstration, our products and/or technology may not have the capabilities they were designed to have or that we believed they would have. Furthermore, even if we do successfully demonstrate our products’ capabilities, potential customers may be more comfortable doing business with a larger, more established, more proven company than us. Moreover, competing products may prevent us from gaining wide market acceptance of our products. Significant revenue from new product investments may not be achieved for a number of years, if at all.

If we do not effectively manage our growth and the associated demands on our operational, risk management, sales and marketing, technology, compliance and finance and accounting resources, our business may be adversely impacted.

We have experienced recent significant growth through our acquisition of Optilan, and other subsidiaries. In our recent acquisitions, including our acquisition of Optilan, our business has become increasingly complex by expanding the services we offer. To effectively manage and capitalize on our growth, we must continue to expand our information technology and financial, operating, and administrative systems and controls, and continue to manage headcount, capital, and processes efficiently. Our continued growth could strain our existing resources, and we could experience ongoing operating difficulties in managing our business as we expand across numerous jurisdictions, including difficulties in hiring, training, and managing an employee base. Failure to scale and preserve our company culture with growth could harm our future success, including our ability to retain and recruit personnel and to effectively focus on and pursue our corporate objectives. If we do not adapt to meet these evolving challenges, or if our management team does not effectively scale with our growth, we may experience erosion to our brand, the quality of our products and services may suffer, and our company culture may be harmed. Moreover, the failure of our systems and processes could undermine our ability to provide accurate, timely, and reliable reports on our financial and operating results, including the financial statements provided herein, and could impact the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. In addition, our systems and processes may not prevent or detect all errors, omissions, or fraud, though we have experienced no such material errors, omissions or fraud in the past. For example, our employees may fail to identify transaction errors or fraudulent information provided by our customers. Any of the foregoing operational failures could lead to noncompliance with laws, loss of operating licenses or other authorizations, or loss of relationships that could substantially impair or even suspend company operations.

We intend to continue to develop our technology. Successful implementation of this strategy may require significant expenditure before any substantial associated revenue is generated and we cannot guarantee that these increased investments will result in corresponding and offsetting revenue growth. Our growth may not be sustainable and depends on our ability to retain existing customers, attract new customers, expand product offerings, and increase processed volumes and revenue from both new and existing customers.

A customer’s use of our services may decrease for a variety of reasons, including the customer’s level of satisfaction with our products and services, the expansion of business to offer new products and services, the effectiveness of our support services, the pricing of our products and services, the pricing, range and quality of competing products or services, the effects of global economic conditions, regulatory limitations, trust, or perception and interest in our products and services. Furthermore, the complexity and costs associated with switching to a competitor may not be significant enough to prevent a customer from switching service providers, especially for larger customers.

Any failure by us to retain existing customers, attract new customers, and increase revenue from both new and existing customers could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. These efforts may require substantial financial expenditures, commitments of resources, developments of our processes, and other investments and innovations.

We face intense and increasing competition and, if we do not compete effectively, our competitive positioning and our operating results will be harmed.

We operate in a rapidly changing and highly competitive industry, and our results of operations and future prospects depend on, among other things:

Despite the barriers to enter the markets we serve, we expect our competition to continue to increase. In addition to established enterprises, we may also face competition from early-stage companies attempting to capitalize on the same, or similar, opportunities as we are. Some of our current and potential competitors have longer operating histories, significantly greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources, and a larger customer base than we do. This allows them, among others, to potentially offer more competitive pricing or other terms or features, a broader range of products, or a more specialized set of specific products or services, as well as respond more quickly than we can to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer preferences.

Our existing or future competitors may develop products or services that are similar to our products and services or that achieve greater market acceptance than our products and services. This could attract new customers away from our services and reduce our market share in the future. Additionally, when new competitors seek to enter our markets, or when existing market participants seek to increase their market share, these competitors sometimes undercut, or otherwise exert pressure on, the pricing terms prevalent in that market, which could adversely affect our market share and/or ability to capitalize on new market opportunities.

Cyberattacks and security breaches of our systems, or those impacting our customers or third parties, could adversely impact our brand and reputation and our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our business involves the collection, storage, processing and transmission of confidential information, customer, employee, service provider and other personal data, as well as information required to access customer assets. Any actual or perceived security breach of our or our third-party partners may:

Further, any actual or perceived breach or cybersecurity attack directed at other similar institutions, whether or not we are directly impacted, could lead to a general loss of customer confidence in the use of our technology, which could negatively impact us including the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures and technology infrastructure.

An increasing number of organizations, including large businesses, technology companies and financial institutions, as well as government institutions, have disclosed breaches of their information security systems, some of which have involved sophisticated and highly targeted attacks, including on their websites, mobile applications, and infrastructure. Attacks upon systems across a variety of industries are increasing in their frequency, persistence, and sophistication, and, in many cases, are being conducted by sophisticated, well-funded, and organized groups and individuals, including state actors. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized, improper, or illegal access to systems and information (including customers’ personal data and digital assets), disable or degrade services, or sabotage systems are constantly evolving, may be difficult to detect quickly, and often are not recognized or detected until after they have been launched against a target. These attacks may occur on our systems or those of its third-party service providers or partners. Certain types of cyberattacks could harm us even if our systems are left undisturbed. For example, attacks may be designed to deceive employees and service providers into releasing control of our systems to a hacker, while others may aim to introduce computer viruses or malware into our systems with a view to stealing confidential or proprietary data. Additionally, certain threats are designed to remain dormant or undetectable until launched against a target and we may not be able to implement adequate preventative measures.

Although we do not have a past history of material security breaches or cyberattacks, and do not believe we are a target of such breaches or attacks, we have developed systems and processes designed to protect the data we manage, prevent data loss and other security breaches, and effectively respond to known and potential risks. We expect to continue to expend significant resources to bolster these protections, but there can be no assurance that these security measures will provide absolute security or prevent breaches or attacks. Threats can come from a variety of sources, including criminal hackers, hacktivists, state-sponsored intrusions, industrial espionage, and insiders. Certain threat actors may be supported by significant financial and technological resources, making them even more sophisticated and difficult to detect. As a result, our costs and the resources it devotes to protecting against these advanced threats and their consequences may increase over time.

Although we maintain insurance coverage that we believe is adequate for our business, it may be insufficient to protect us against all losses and costs stemming from security breaches, cyberattacks, and other types of unlawful activity, or any resulting disruptions from such events. Outages and disruptions of our systems, including any caused by cyberattacks, may harm our reputation and our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We may incur significant liability as a result of ongoing disputes.

We are a party to multiple legal disputes the resolutions of which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may be subject to various other legal proceedings, arbitrations, and regulatory investigation matters as further described in “Legal Proceedings”. If any of these matters are resolved unfavorably to us, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

We have a limited operating history in an evolving and highly volatile industry, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.

Because we have a limited history operating our business at our current scale and scope, it is difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects, including our ability to plan for and model future growth. For example, recently launched services require substantial resources and there is no guarantee that such expenditures will result in profit or growth of our business. The rapidly evolving nature of the market in which we operate, substantial uncertainty concerning how these markets may develop, and other economic factors beyond our control, reduces our ability to accurately forecast quarterly or annual revenue. Failure to manage our current and future growth effectively could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Adverse economic conditions may adversely affect our business.

Our performance is subject to general economic conditions, and their impact on the industries in which we operate, as well as our customers. The United States and other key European and other international economies have experienced cyclical downturns from time to time in which economic activity declined resulting in lower consumption rates, restricted credit, reduced profitability, weaknesses in financial markets, bankruptcies, and overall uncertainty with respect to the economy. The impact of general economic conditions on our business is highly uncertain and dependent on a variety of factors, including market activity, global economic trends, and other events beyond our control. Geopolitical developments, such as trade wars and foreign exchange limitations can also increase the severity and levels of unpredictability globally and increase the volatility of global financial markets. To the extent that conditions in the general economic markets materially deteriorate, our ability to attract and retain customers may suffer.

The nature of our business involves significant risks and uncertainties that may not be covered by insurance or indemnity.

We develop and sell products where insurance or indemnification may not be available, including:

Certain products may raise questions with respect to issues of privacy rights, civil liberties, intellectual property, trespass, conversion and similar concepts, which may raise new legal issues. Indemnification to cover potential claims or liabilities resulting from a failure of technologies developed or deployed may be available in certain circumstances but not in others. We are not able to maintain insurance to protect against all operational risks and uncertainties. Substantial claims resulting from an accident, failure of our product, or liability arising from our products in excess of any indemnity or insurance coverage (or for which indemnity or insurance is not available or was not obtained) could harm our financial condition, cash flows, and operating results. Any accident, even if fully covered or insured, could negatively affect our reputation among our customers and the public, and make it more difficult for us to compete effectively.

Material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting may, until remedied, cause errors in our financial statements or cause our filings with the SEC to not be timely.

We believe that material weaknesses exist in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, including those related to (i) our internal audit functions and (ii) a lack of segregation of duties within accounting functions. If our internal control over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures are not effective, there may be errors in our financial statements that could require a restatement or our filings may not be timely made with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We intend to implement additional corporate governance and control measures to strengthen our control environment as we are able, but we may not achieve our desired objectives. Moreover, no control environment, no matter how well designed and operated, can prevent or detect all errors or fraud. We may identify material weaknesses and control deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting in the future that may require remediation and could lead investors losing confidence in our reported financial information, which could lead to a decline in our stock price.

Being a public company is expensive and administratively burdensome.

As a public reporting company, we are subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Securities Act, the Exchange Act and other federal securities laws, rules and regulations related thereto, including compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Complying with these laws and regulations requires the time and attention of our Board of Directors and management team, and increases our expenses. We estimate we will incur approximately $200,000 to $300,000 annually in connection with being a public company.

Among other things, we are required to:

The costs of preparing and filing annual and quarterly reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC and furnishing audited reports to stockholders are expensive and much greater than that of a privately-held company, and compliance with these rules and regulations may require us to hire additional financial reporting, internal controls and other finance personnel, and will involve a material increase in regulatory, legal and accounting expenses and the attention of management. There can be no assurance that we will be able to comply with the applicable regulations in a timely manner, if at all. In addition, being a public company makes it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance. In the future, we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain this coverage.

If we fail to establish and maintain an effective system of internal control, we may not be able to report our financial results accurately or to prevent fraud. Any inability to report and file our financial results accurately and timely could harm our reputation and adversely impact the trading price of our common stock.

Effective internal control is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, we may not be able to manage our business as effectively as we would if an effective control environment existed, and our business and reputation with investors may be harmed. As a result, our small size and any current internal control deficiencies may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operation and access to capital. We have not performed an in-depth analysis to determine if historical un-discovered failures of internal controls exist, and may in the future discover areas of our internal control that need improvement.

Public company compliance may make it more difficult to attract and retain officers and directors.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and new rules subsequently implemented by the SEC have required changes in corporate governance practices of public companies. As a public company, we expect these new rules and regulations to increase our compliance costs in 2023 and beyond and to make certain activities more time consuming and costly. As a public company, we also expect that these new rules and regulations may make it more difficult and expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance in the future and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board of Directors or as executive officers.

Delaware law and our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws will contain certain provisions, including anti-takeover provisions that limit the ability of stockholders to take certain actions and could delay or discourage takeover attempts that stockholders may consider favorable.

Our Certificate of Incorporation and bylaws contains provisions that could have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying, or preventing an acquisition deemed undesirable by our board and therefore depress the trading price of our Common Stock. In addition, as a Delaware corporation, we will generally be subject to provisions of Delaware law, including the DGCL. These provisions could also make it difficult for stockholders to take certain actions, including electing directors who are not nominated by the current members of our board or taking other corporate actions, including effecting changes in management.

Such provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in our board or management.

Any provision of our Certificate of Incorporation or bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control could limit the opportunity for stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our stock and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our Common Stock.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR FINANCIAL CONDITION

If we do not obtain additional financing or sufficient revenues, our business will fail.

Our current operating funds are less than necessary to fulfill our operating costs and we will need to obtain additional financing in order to continue our business operations. Although we are generating revenues, we are not generating net income.

We will require additional financing to execute our business plan through raising additional capital and/or generating greater revenues.

Obtaining additional financing is subject to a number of factors, including acceptance of our BOTDA technology and current financial condition as well as general market conditions.

These factors affect the timing, amount, terms or conditions of additional financing unavailable to us. If additional financing is not arranged, we will face the risk of going out of business. Our management is currently engaged in actively pursuing multiple financing options in order to obtain the capital necessary to execute our business plan.

The most likely source of future funds presently available to us is through the additional sales of equity or through convertible debt instruments. Any sales of share capital or conversion of convertible debt will most likely result in dilution to existing shareholders.

There is no history upon which to base any assumption as to the likelihood we will prove successful, and we can provide investors with no assurance that we will generate any operating revenues or achieve profitable operations. If we are unsuccessful in addressing these risks, our business will most likely fail.

We might require additional capital to support business growth, and this capital might not be available or may require stockholder approval to obtain.

We have funded our operations since inception primarily through equity financings, convertible notes, and revenue generated by our products and services. We intend to continue to make investments in our business to respond to business challenges, including developing new products and services, enhancing our operating infrastructure, expanding our international operations, and acquiring complementary businesses and technologies, all of which may require us to secure additional funds.

Additional financing may not be available on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we incur additional debt, the debt holders may have rights senior to holders of our common stock to make claims on our assets, and the terms of any debt could restrict our operations.

Our only existing commitment for financing is pursuant to the Equity Financing Agreement with GHS Investments LLC but our ability to make puts is subject to certain conditions which may limit our ability to make puts or the amount of each put. In the event we are unable to make puts or obtain other commitments for financing, our business will fail.

On June 5, 2023, we entered an Amended Equity Financing Agreement (the “EFA”) with GHS Investments LLC (“GHS”), pursuant to which GHS agreed to purchase up to $30,000,000 in shares of our Common Stock, from time to time over the course of 12 months (the “Contract Period”).

The EFA grants us the right, from time to time at our sole discretion (subject to certain conditions) during the Contract Period, to direct GHS to purchase shares of Common Stock on any business day (a “Put”), provided that at least ten Trading Days (as defined in the EFA) have passed since the most recent Put. No Put will be made in an amount less than $10,000 or greater than $1,000,000. In no event is the Company entitled to make a Put or is GHS entitled to purchase that number of shares of Common Stock of the Company, which when added to the sum of the number of shares of Common Stock beneficially owned (as such term is defined under Section 13(d) and Rule 13d-3 of the Securities Exchange Act 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), by GHS, would exceed 4.99% of the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding on such date, as determined in accordance with Rule 13d-1(j) of the Exchange Act.

Due to these limitations, we may be unable to make Puts sufficient to finance our business operations. In the event we are unable to make Puts or obtain other commitments for financing, our business will fail.

We need to continue as a going concern if our business is to succeed.

Our independent registered public accounting firm reports on our audited financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, indicate that there are a number of factors that raise substantial risks about our ability to continue as a going concern. Such factors identified in the report are our accumulated deficit since inception, our failure to attain profitable operations, the excess of liabilities over assets, and our dependence upon obtaining adequate additional financing to pay our liabilities. If we are not able to continue as a going concern, investors could lose their investments.

There is no assurance that we will achieve or maintain profitability or that our revenue and business models will be successful.

Our ability to achieve and maintain profitability is based on numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control. We may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to maintain profitability in the short or long-term. Our revenue growth may slow, or our revenue may decline for a number of other reasons, including reduced demand for our offerings, increased competition, a decrease in the growth or size of the industries in which we operate, in the usage our technologies generally, or any failure to capitalize on growth opportunities.

We are continually refining our revenue and business model and have shifted our focus to the development and commercialization of our products and services. There is no assurance that these efforts will be successful or that we will generate revenues commensurate with our efforts and expectations or become or stay profitable. We may be forced to make significant changes to our revenue and business model to compete with our competitors’ offerings, and even if such changes are undertaken, there is no guarantee that they will be successful or profitable. Additionally, we will need to hire, train, and integrate qualified personnel to meet and further such changes to our business objectives at potentially significant additional expense. Failure to successfully implement revenue and business models or manage related expenses could cause us to be unprofitable and have an adverse effect on pour business, operating results and financial condition.

We may be affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates

We are potentially exposed to adverse as well as beneficial movements in currency exchange rates. An increase in the value of the dollar could increase the real cost to our customers of our products in those markets outside the U.S. where we sell in dollars, and a weakened dollar could increase the cost of local operating expenses from sources outside the United States, and overseas capital expenditures. We also conduct certain investing and financing activities in local currencies. Therefore, changes in exchange rates could harm our financial condition and results of operations.

We may experience fluctuations in our quarterly operating results.

We could experience significant fluctuations in our quarterly operating results due to a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control. You should not rely on period-to-period comparisons of our operating results as an indication of our future performance. Factors that may cause fluctuations in our quarterly operating results include, but are not limited to, the following:

Our operating results may fall below the expectations of market analysts and investors in some future periods, which could cause the market price of our Common Stock to decline substantially.

Changes in U.S. and foreign tax laws, as well as the application of such laws, could adversely impact our financial position and operating results.

We are subject to complex income and non-income tax laws and regulations in the United States and a variety of foreign jurisdictions. Both the United States and foreign jurisdictions may revise corporate income tax and other non-income tax laws which could impact the amount of tax due in such jurisdiction.

Our determination of our corporate income tax liability is subject to review and may be challenged by applicable U.S. and foreign tax authorities. Any adverse outcome of such challenge could harm our operating results and financial condition. The determination of our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities requires significant judgment and, in the ordinary course of business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is complex and uncertain. Moreover, as a multinational business, we have subsidiaries that engage in many intercompany transactions in a variety of tax jurisdictions where the ultimate tax determination is complex and uncertain. Our existing corporate structure and intercompany arrangements have been implemented in a manner we believe is in compliance with current prevailing tax laws. Furthermore, as we operate in multiple taxing jurisdictions, the application of tax laws can be subject to diverging and sometimes conflicting interpretations by tax authorities of these jurisdictions. It is not uncommon for taxing authorities in different countries to have conflicting views with respect to, among other things, the characterization and source of income or other tax items, the manner in which the arm’s-length standard is applied for transfer pricing purposes, or with respect to the valuation of intellectual property. The taxing authorities of the jurisdictions in which we operate may challenge our tax treatment of certain items or the methodologies we use for valuing developed technology or intercompany arrangements, which could impact our worldwide effective tax rate and harm our financial position and operating results.

We are also subject to non-income taxes, such as payroll, sales, use, value-added, net worth, property, and goods and services taxes in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions. A change in the tax law could impact tax positions which could result in an increased exposure related to such tax liabilities. Such changes could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

In addition, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” (as defined under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code and applicable Treasury Regulations) is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change NOLs and certain other tax attributes to offset post-change taxable income or taxes.

We have not performed a study to determine whether its NOLs are currently subject to Section 382 limitations. DarkPulse may also experience a future ownership change under Section 382 of the Code that could affect our ability to utilize its NOLs to offset our income.

If our estimates or judgment relating to our critical accounting policies prove to be incorrect, our operating results 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 the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as provided in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”. The results of these estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities, and equity, and the amount of revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Significant estimates and judgments involve the identification of performance obligations in revenue recognition, evaluation of tax positions, inter-company transactions, and the valuation of stock-based awards and the fiat reserves we hold, among others. Our operating results may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our operating results to fall below the expectations of analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the trading price of our Common Stock.

Business metrics and other estimates are subject to inherent challenges in measurement, and our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected by real or perceived inaccuracies in those metrics.

We regularly review business metrics and other measures to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance, and makes strategic decisions. These metrics are calculated using internal company data and have not been validated by an independent third party. While these numbers are based on what we currently believe to be reasonable estimates for the applicable period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in such measurements. If we fail to maintain an effective analytics platform, our calculations may be inaccurate, and we may not be able to identify those inaccuracies.

We are subject to changes in financial reporting standards or policies, including as a result of choices made by us, which could materially adversely affect our reported results of operations and financial condition and may have a corresponding material adverse impact on capital ratios.

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP, which are periodically revised or expanded. Accordingly, from time to time we are required to adopt new or revised accounting standards issued by recognized bodies. It is possible that future accounting standards and financial reporting standards or policies, including as a result of choices made by us, which we are required to adopt, could change the current accounting treatment that applies to our consolidated financial statements and that such changes could have a material adverse effect on our reported results of operations and financial condition, and may have a corresponding material adverse effect on capital ratios.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR EMPLOYEES AND OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS

We are heavily reliant on Dennis O’Leary, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and the departure or loss of Dennis O’Leary could disrupt our business. 

We depend heavily on the continued efforts of Dennis O’Leary, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and director. Mr. O’Leary is essential to our strategic vision and day-to-day operations and would be difficult to replace. Although we have an employment agreement with Mr. O’Leary, we cannot be certain that he will desire to continue with us for the necessary time it will to complete the product development and initial sales channel development. The departure or loss of Mr. O’Leary, or the inability to hire and retain a qualified replacement, could negatively impact our ability to manage our business.

If we are unable to recruit and retain key management, technical and sales personnel, our business would be negatively affected.

For our business to be successful, we need to attract and retain highly qualified technical, management and sales personnel. The failure to recruit additional key personnel when needed with specific qualifications and on acceptable terms or to retain good relationships with our partners might impede our ability to continue to develop, commercialize and sell our products. To the extent the demand for skilled personnel exceeds supply, we could experience higher labor, recruiting and training costs in order to attract and retain such employees. We face competition for qualified personnel from other companies with significantly more resources available to them and thus may not be able to attract the level of personnel needed for our business to succeed.

In the event of employee or service provider misconduct or error, our business may be adversely impacted.

Employee or service provider misconduct or error could subject us to legal liability, financial losses, and regulatory sanctions, and could seriously harm our reputation and negatively affect our business. Such misconduct could include engaging in improper or unauthorized transactions or activities, misappropriation of customer funds, and misappropriation of information, failing to supervise other employees or service providers, or improperly using confidential information.

Employee or service provider errors could expose us to the risk of material losses even if the errors are detected. Although we have implemented processes and procedures and provide trainings to our employees and service providers to reduce the likelihood of misconduct and error, these efforts may not be successful. Moreover, the risk of employee or service provider error or misconduct may be even greater for novel products and services.

This can lead to high risk of confusion among employees and service providers, particularly in a fast growth company like ours, with respect to compliance obligations particularly including confidentiality, data access, and conflicts. It is not always possible to deter misconduct and the precautions we take to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in all cases. If we were found not to have met our regulatory oversight and compliance and other obligations, we could be subject to regulatory sanctions, financial penalties and restrictions on our activities for failure to properly identify, monitor and respond to potentially problematic activity, which could seriously damage our reputation. Our employees, contractors, and agents could also commit errors that subject us to financial claims for negligence, as well as regulatory actions, or result in financial liability. Further, allegations by regulatory or criminal authorities of improper transactions could affect our brand and reputation.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR COMMON STOCK

You may experience dilution of your ownership interests because of the future issuance of additional shares of our common or preferred stock or other securities that are convertible into or exercisable for our common or preferred stock.

We are authorized to issue an aggregate of 20,000,000,000 shares of common stock and 2,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock. In the future, we may issue our authorized but previously unissued equity securities, resulting in the dilution of the ownership interests of our present stockholders. We may issue additional shares of our common stock or other securities that are convertible into or exercisable for our common stock in connection with hiring or retaining employees, future acquisitions, future sales of our securities for capital raising purposes, or for other business purposes. The future issuance of any such additional shares of our common stock may create downward pressure on the trading price of the common stock. We will need to raise additional capital in the near future to meet our working capital needs, and there can be no assurance that we will not be required to issue additional shares, warrants or other convertible securities in the future in conjunction with these capital raising efforts, including at a price (or exercise or conversion prices) below the price an investor paid for stock.

Because the SEC imposes additional sales practice requirements on brokers who deal in our shares that are penny stocks, some brokers may be unwilling to trade them. This means that investors may have difficulty reselling their shares and may cause the price of the shares to decline.

Our shares qualify as penny stocks and are covered by Section 15(g) of the Exchange Act, which imposes additional sales practice requirements on broker/dealers who sell our securities in this offering or in the aftermarket. In particular, prior to selling a penny stock, broker/dealers must give the prospective customer a risk disclosure document that: contains a description of the nature and level of risk in the market for penny stocks in both public offerings and secondary trading; contains a description of the broker/dealers’ duties to the customer and of the rights and remedies available to the customer with respect to violations of such duties or other requirements of Federal securities laws; contains a brief, clear, narrative description of a dealer market, including “bid” and “ask” prices for penny stocks and the significance of the spread between the bid and ask prices; contains the toll free telephone number for inquiries on disciplinary actions established pursuant to section 15(A)(i); defines significant terms used in the disclosure document or in the conduct of trading in penny stocks; and contains such other information, and is in such form (including language, type size, and format), as the SEC requires by rule or regulation. Further, for sales of our securities, the broker/dealer must make a special suitability determination and receive from you a written agreement before making a sale to you. Because of the imposition of the foregoing additional sales practices, it is possible that brokers will not want to make a market in our shares. This could prevent reselling of shares and may cause the price of the shares to decline.

We do not expect to declare or pay any dividends.

We have not declared or paid any dividends on our common stock since our inception, and we do not anticipate paying any such dividends for the foreseeable future.

Volatility of Stock Price.

Our common shares are currently publicly traded on the OTC Markets under the symbol “DPLS.” In the future, the trading price of our common shares may be subject to wide fluctuations. Trading prices of the common shares may fluctuate in response to a number of factors, many of which will be beyond our control. In addition, the stock market in general, and the market for technology companies in particular, has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of such companies. Market and industry factors may adversely affect the market price of the common shares, regardless of our operating performance. Readers should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below before deciding whether to invest in shares of our common stock.

Our failure to successfully address the risks and uncertainties described below would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and/or results of operations, and the trading price of our common stock may decline and investors may lose all or part of their investment. We cannot assure you that we will successfully address these risks or other unknown risks that may affect our business.

As an enterprise engaged in the development of new technology, our business is inherently risky. Our common shares are considered speculative during the development of our new business operations. Prospective investors should consider carefully the risk factors set out herein. The market price of our common stock has fluctuated significantly.

You could lose all of your investment.

An investment in our securities is speculative and involves a high degree of risk. Potential investors should be aware that the value of an investment in the Company may go down as well as up. In addition, there can be no certainty that the market value of an investment in the Company will fully reflect its underlying value. You could lose your entire investment.

The ability of our Board of Directors to issue additional stock may prevent or make more difficult certain transactions, including a sale or merger of the Company.

Our Board of Directors is authorized to issue up to 2,000,000 shares of preferred stock with powers, rights and preferences designated by it. Shares of voting or convertible preferred stock could be issued, or rights to purchase such shares could be issued, to create voting impediments or to frustrate persons seeking to effect a takeover or otherwise gain control of the Company.  The ability of the Board of Directors to issue such additional shares of preferred stock, with rights and preferences it deems advisable, could discourage an attempt by a party to acquire control of the Company by tender offer or other means.  Such issuances could therefore deprive stockholders of benefits that could result from such an attempt, such as the realization of a premium over the market price for their shares in a tender offer or the temporary increase in market price that such an attempt could cause.  Moreover, the issuance of such additional shares of preferred stock to persons friendly to the Board of Directors could make it more difficult to remove incumbent officers and directors from office even if such change were to be favorable to stockholders generally.

Our stock may be traded infrequently and in low volumes, so you may be unable to sell your shares at or near the quoted bid prices if you need to sell your shares.

Until our common stock is listed on a national securities exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq, we expect our common stock to remain eligible for quotation on the OTC Markets, or on another over-the-counter quotation system. In those venues, however, the shares of our common stock may trade infrequently and in low volumes, meaning that the number of persons interested in purchasing our common shares at or near bid prices at any given time may be relatively small or non-existent. An investor may find it difficult to obtain accurate quotations as to the market value of our common stock or to sell his or her shares at or near bid prices or at all. In addition, if we fail to meet the criteria set forth in SEC regulations, various requirements would be imposed by law on broker-dealers who sell our securities to persons other than established customers and accredited investors. Consequently, such regulations may deter broker-dealers from recommending or selling our common stock, which may further affect the liquidity of our common stock. This would also make it more difficult for us to raise capital.

There currently is no active public market for our common stock and there can be no assurance that an active public market will ever develop. Failure to develop or maintain a trading market could negatively affect the value of our common stock and make it difficult or impossible for you to sell your shares.

There is currently no active public market for shares of our common stock and one may never develop. Our common stock is quoted on the OTC Markets. The OTC Markets is a thinly traded market and lacks the liquidity of certain other public markets with which some investors may have more experience. We may not ever be able to satisfy the listing requirements for our common stock to be listed on a national securities exchange, which is often a more widely-traded and liquid market. Some, but not all, of the factors which may delay or prevent the listing of our common stock on a more widely-traded and liquid market include the following: our stockholders’ equity may be insufficient; the market value of our outstanding securities may be too low; our net income from operations may be too low; our common stock may not be sufficiently widely held; we may not be able to secure market makers for our common stock; and we may fail to meet the rules and requirements mandated by the several exchanges and markets to have our common stock listed. Should we fail to satisfy the initial listing standards of the national exchanges, or our common stock is otherwise rejected for listing, and remains listed on the OTC Markets or is suspended from the OTC Markets, the trading price of our common stock could suffer and the trading market for our common stock may be less liquid and our common stock price may be subject to increased volatility, making it difficult or impossible to sell shares of our common stock.

Our common stock is subject to the “penny stock” rules of the SEC and the trading market in the securities is limited, which makes transactions in the stock cumbersome and may reduce the value of an investment in the stock.

Rule 15g-9 under the Exchange Act establishes the definition of a “penny stock,” for the purposes relevant to us, as any equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share or with an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions.  For any transaction involving a penny stock, unless exempt, the rules require: (a) that a broker or dealer approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks; and (b) the broker or dealer receive from the investor a written agreement to the transaction, setting forth the identity and quantity of the penny stock to be purchased.

In order to approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks, the broker or dealer must: (a) obtain financial information and investment experience objectives of the person and (b) make a reasonable determination that the transactions in penny stocks are suitable for that person and the person has sufficient knowledge and experience in financial matters to be capable of evaluating the risks of transactions in penny stocks.

The broker or dealer must also deliver, prior to any transaction in a penny stock, a disclosure schedule prescribed by the SEC relating to the penny stock market, which, in highlight form: (a) sets forth the basis on which the broker or dealer made the suitability determination; and (b) confirms that the broker or dealer received a signed, written agreement from the investor prior to the transaction.  Generally, brokers may be less willing to execute transactions in securities subject to the “penny stock” rules. This may make it more difficult for investors to dispose of our common stock and cause a decline in the market value of our common stock.

Disclosure also has to be made about the risks of investing in penny stocks in both public offerings and in secondary trading and about the commissions payable to both the broker or dealer and the registered representative, current quotations for the securities and the rights and remedies available to an investor in cases of fraud in penny stock transactions.  Finally, monthly statements have to be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the account and information on the limited market in penny stocks.

Our stock price may be volatile.

The market price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile and could fluctuate widely in price in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including the following:

In addition, the securities markets have from time-to-time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Offers or availability for sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock may cause the price of our common stock to decline.

If our stockholders sell substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, including upon the expiration of any statutory holding period under Rule 144, or issued upon the conversion of preferred stock or exercise of warrants, it could create a circumstance commonly referred to as an "overhang" and in anticipation of which the market price of our common stock could fall. The existence of an overhang, whether or not sales have occurred or are occurring, also could make more difficult our ability to raise additional financing through the sale of equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem reasonable or appropriate.

RISKS RELATED TO GOVERNMENT REGULATION

Legislative and regulatory actions taken now or in the future may increase our costs and impact our business, governance structure, financial condition or results of operations.

Federal, state and international regulatory agencies frequently adopt changes to their regulations or change the way existing regulations are applied. Regulatory or legislative changes to laws applicable to the industries in which we operate, if enacted or adopted, may impact the profitability of our business activities, require more oversight or change certain of our business practices, including the ability to offer new products and services and to continue offering our current products and services, and could expose us to additional costs, including increased compliance costs. These changes also may require us to invest significant management attention and resources to make any necessary changes to operations to comply and could have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition and results of operations.

The regulatory environment to which we are subject gives rise to various licensing requirements, legal and financial compliance costs and management time, and non-compliance could result in monetary and reputational damages, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain our existing, or obtain additional, required regulatory licenses, certifications and regulatory approvals in the countries where we provide services or want to expand to. Furthermore, where we have obtained such regulatory licenses, certifications and regulatory approvals, there are costs and potential product changes involved in maintaining such regulatory licenses, certifications, and approvals, and we could be subject to fines or other enforcement action if we are found to violate disclosure, reporting, anti-money laundering, capitalization, corporate governance or other requirements of such licenses. These factors could impose substantial additional costs and involve considerable delay to the development or provision of our products or services, or could require significant and costly operational changes or prevent us from providing any products or services in a given market.

If we are unable to commit sufficient resources to regulatory compliance, this could lead to delays and errors and may force us to choose between prioritizing compliance matters over administrative support for business activities, or may ultimately force us to cease offering certain products or services globally or in certain jurisdictions. Any delays or errors in implementing regulatory compliance could lead to substantial monetary damages and fines, public reprimands, a material adverse effect on our reputation, regulatory measures in the form of cease and desists orders, increased regulatory compliance requirements or other potential regulatory restrictions on our business, enforced suspension of operations and in extreme cases, withdrawal of regulatory licenses or authorizations to operate particular businesses, or criminal prosecution in certain circumstances.

We are and may continue to be subject to litigation, including individual and class action lawsuits, as well as regulatory audits, disputes, inquiries, investigations and enforcement actions by regulators and governmental authorities.

We have been and may from time to time become subject to material claims, arbitrations, individual and class action lawsuits, government and regulatory investigations, inquiries, actions or requests and other proceedings alleging violations of laws, rules, and regulations, both foreign and domestic, involving competition and antitrust law, intellectual property, privacy, data protection, information security, anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing, sanctions, anti-corruption, accessibility claims, securities, tax, labor and employment, payment network rules, commercial disputes, services, and other matters.

The laws, rules and regulations affecting our business are subject to ongoing interpretation by the courts and governmental and supervisory authorities, and the resulting uncertainty in the scope and application of these laws, rules and regulations increases the risk that we will be subject to private claims, governmental and regulatory actions alleging violations of those laws, rules, and regulations.

The scope, determination, and impact of claims, lawsuits, government and regulatory investigations, enforcement actions, disputes, and proceedings to which we are subject cannot be predicted with certainty, and may result in:

Any such matters can have an adverse impact, which may be material, on our business, operating results, or financial condition because of legal costs, diversion of management resources, reputational damage, and other factors.

RISKS RELATED TO OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Our intellectual property rights are valuable, and any inability to protect them could adversely impact our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Our business depends in large part on our proprietary technology and our brand. We rely on, and expect to continue to rely on, a combination of trademark, trade dress, domain name, copyright, and trade secret and laws, as well as confidentiality and license agreements with our employees, contractors, consultants, and third parties with whom we have relationships, to establish and protect our brand and other intellectual property rights.

Our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights may not be sufficient or effective. Our proprietary technology and trade secrets could be lost through misappropriation or breach of our confidentiality and license agreements, and any of our intellectual property rights may be challenged, which could result in them being narrowed in scope or declared invalid or unenforceable. There can be no assurance that our intellectual property rights will be sufficient to protect against others offering products, services, or technologies that are substantially similar to ours and that compete with our business.

As we grow, we will seek to obtain and protect our intellectual property rights in an increasing number of countries, a process that can be expensive and may not always be successful. For example, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and various foreign governmental intellectual property agencies require compliance with a number of procedural requirements to complete the trademark application process and to maintain issued trademarks, and noncompliance or non-payment could result in abandonment or lapse of a trademark or trademark application, resulting in partial or complete loss of trademark rights in a relevant jurisdiction. Further, intellectual property protection may not be available to us in every country in which our products and services are available. We may also agree to license our intellectual property to third parties as part of various agreements. Those licenses may diminish our ability, though, to counter-assert our intellectual property rights against certain parties that may bring claims against us.

In the future we may be sued by third parties for alleged infringement of their proprietary rights.

In recent years, there has been considerable patent, copyright, trademark, domain name, trade secret and other intellectual property development activity, as well as litigation, based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property, including by large financial institutions. Furthermore, individuals and groups can purchase patents and other intellectual property assets for the purpose of making claims of infringement to extract settlements from companies like ours. We use of third-party intellectual property rights also may be subject to claims of infringement or misappropriation.

We cannot guarantee that our internally developed or acquired/licensed technologies and content do not or will not infringe the intellectual property rights of others. From time to time, our competitors or other third parties may claim that we are infringing upon or misappropriating their intellectual property rights, and we may be found to be infringing upon such rights. Any claims or litigation could cause us to incur significant expenses and, if successfully asserted against us, could require that we pay substantial damages or ongoing royalty payments, prevent us from offering our products or services or using certain technologies, force us to implement expensive work-arounds, or impose other unfavorable terms. Our exposure to damages resulting from infringement claims could increase and this could further exhaust our financial and management resources. Further, during the course of any litigation, we may make announcements regarding the results of hearings and motions, and other interim developments. If securities analysts and investors regard these announcements as negative, the market price of our Common Stock may decline. Even if intellectual property claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor, these claims, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them, could divert the resources of our management and require significant expenditures. Any of the foregoing could prevent us from competing effectively and could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

None.

On February 12, 2021, we entered into a Commercial Lease Agreement with the lessor for the lease of 2640 West Medtronic Way, Tempe, Arizona 85281. The term of the lease is for 12 months and the monthly rent is $2,000 per month for a total of $24,000.

On January 31, 2022, we executed a lease for our national headquarters to be located at 815 Walker Street, Suite 1155, Houston, Texas 77002. We will occupy approximately 4,224 sq. ft., in the Mellie Esperson Building. The lease term is for 10 years commencing March 1, 2022.

DarkPulse, Inc. v. Twitter, Inc.

As disclosed in greater detail in the Company’s Form 10-Q, filed October 24, 2022, the Company is actively investigating potential claims against the @MIKEWOOD and @BullMeechum3 Twitter accounts. There are no material updates to this matter.

Carebourn Capital, L.P. v. DarkPulse, Inc.

As disclosed in greater detail in the Company’s Form 10-Q, filed October 24, 2022, the Company remains in active litigation with Carebourn Capital, L.P. (“Carebourn”) in Minnesota state court. The following discloses the material updates for this matter.

On April 21, 2023, the Minnesota state court granted the Company’s motion for partial summary judgment on its affirmative defenses. Specifically, the Court found that Carebourn is an unregistered dealer, acting in violation of Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and, thus, the contracts between the Company and Carebourn are now void pursuant to Section 29(b) of the Exchange Act.

The Company is actively litigating its counterclaims asserted under the Minnesota Uniform Securities Act.

More Capital, LLC v. DarkPulse, Inc. et al

As disclosed in greater detail in the Company’s Form 10-Q, filed October 24, 2022, the Company remains in active litigation with More Capital, LLC (“More”) in Minnesota state court. There are no material updates to this litigation.

The Company remains committed to actively litigating its affirmative defenses and claims for relief under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Minnesota Uniform Securities Act.

Carebourn Capital et al v. Standard Registrar and Transfer et al

On May 20, 2022, Carebourn Capital, L.P. (“Carebourn”) and More Capital, LLC (“More,” and together with Carebourn, the “Noteholder Plaintiffs”) commenced an action against (i) Standard Registrar and Transfer Co., Inc. (“Standard”), (ii) Amy Merrill (“Merrill”) (Standard and Merrill, together, the “TA Defendants”), (iii) DarkPulse, Inc., (iv) Dennis O’Leary (“O’Leary”), (v) Thomas Seifert (“Seifert”), (vi) Carl Eckel (“Eckel”), (vii) Anthony Brown (“Brown”), and (viii) Faisal Farooqui (“Farooqui”) (DarkPulse, O’Leary, Seifert, Eckel, Brown, and Farooqui, collectively, the “DPLS Defendants ”) in the United States District Court for the District of Utah.

The Noteholder Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges the DPLS Defendants violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, are liable for attorneys’ fees pursuant to the Company’s breach of securities contracts between the Company and, separately, Carebourn and More, and engaged in civil conspiracy, fraudulent concealment, tortious interference with economic relations and conversion against the Noteholder Plaintiffs.

Thereafter, the TA Defendants and DPLS Defendants separately moved to dismiss the Noteholder Plaintiffs’ complaint. On February 10, 2023, the Court denied both motions without prejudice and stayed the action pending the conclusion of enforcement action commenced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against Carebourn and its principal, Chip Rice, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

The Company contends that the Noteholder Plaintiffs’ lawsuit is duplicative of the first-filed lawsuits commenced by the Noteholder Plaintiffs’ in Minnesota state court. The Company intends to vigorously defend itself against the Noteholder Plaintiffs’ lawsuit.

Goodman et al. v. DarkPulse, Inc.

As disclosed in greater detail in the Company’s Form 10-Q, filed October 24, 2022, on September 10, 2021, Stephen Goodman, Mark Banash, and David Singer (“Former Officers”) commenced suit against the Company in Arizona Superior Court, Maricopa County.

As of the date hereof, the Company and Former Officers have entered into a mutual settlement. Thus, the Former Officers’ lawsuit against the Company has been dismissed with prejudice. Any expenses or amounts awed have been recorded as of December 31, 2022 and are properly disclosed.

DarkPulse, Inc. v. FirstFire Global Opportunities Fund, LLC, and Eli Fireman

As disclosed in greater detail in the Company’s Form 10-Q, filed October 24, 2022, the Company remains in active litigation with FirstFire Global Opportunities Fund, LLC (“FirstFire”), and Eli Fireman (“Fireman”) (FirstFire and Fireman together, the “FirstFire Parties”). The following discloses the material updates for this matter.

On January 17, 2023, the Court granted the FirstFire Parties’ motion to dismiss the Company’s complaint. Also on January 17, 2023, the Company appealed the trial court’s decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Briefing is currently taking place on the Company’s appeal.

The Company remains committed to actively litigating its claims for relief under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

DarkPulse, Inc. v. EMA Financial, LLC et al

As disclosed in greater detail in the Company’s Form 10-Q, filed October 24, 2022, the Company remains in active litigation with EMA Financial, LLC (“EMA”), EMA Group, Inc. (“EMA Group”), and Felicia Preston (“Preston”) (EMA, EMA Group, and Preston together, the “EMA Parties”). The following discloses the material updates for this matter.

On March 1, 2023, the Court granted the EMA Parties’ motion to dismiss the Company’s claims asserted under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, but denied dismissal of the Company’s claim asserted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

On or about May 15, 2023, the Company and the EMA Parties reached an understanding of settlement, which was subsequently memorialized. The action was subsequently dismissed on or about June 14, 2023.

DarkPulse, Inc. v. Brunson Chandler & Jones, PLLC et al

On July 8, 2022, the Company commenced litigation against Brunson Chandler & Jones, PLLC (“Brunson Firm”), and Lance B. Brunson (“Brunson,” and together with the Brunson Firm, the “Brunson Parties”) through the filing of a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Utah. The Company is alleging that the Brunson Parties have committed professional negligence and breach of contract.

On March 2, 2023, the Brunson Parties filed an answer, affirmative defenses, and counterclaims to the Company’s complaint, wherein the Brunson Firm alleged claims for (i) breach of contract against the Company, (ii) breach of contract against the Company’s subsidiary, DarkPulse Technologies, Inc., and (iii) quantum meruit.

On June 5, 2023, the Company filed its answer and affirmative defenses to the Brunson Firm’s counterclaims. The Company remains committed to litigating its claims and affirmative defenses against the Brunson Parties.

DarkPulse, Inc., et al v. Crown Bridge Partners, LLC, et al

On September 23, 2022, the Company commenced an action along with two other plaintiffs (“Crown Bridge Plaintiffs”) against Crown Bridge Partners, LLC, Soheil Ahdoot, and Sepas Ahdoot (“Crown Bridge Defendants”) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

On January 13, 2023, the Crown Bridge Defendants filed a motion to dismiss. As of May 16, 2023, the Crown Bridge Defendants’ motion to dismiss was fully submitted to the court. As of the date hereof, no decision has been made on the motion.

The Company remains committed to actively litigating its RICO claims against the Crown Bridge Defendants.

Benner et al v. DarkPulse, Inc. et al

On March 29, 2023, J. Merlin Benner, Phillip J. Benner, Benjamin P. Benner, Jonas M. Benner, and Angelica M. Benner (collectively, the “Benner Parties”) commenced an action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas against the Company and its Chief Executive Officer, Dennis O’Leary, individually, alleging (i) the Company is in breach of contracts between the Company and the Benner Parties as it concerns Remote Intelligence, LLC and Wildlife Specialists, LLC, (ii) violation of Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act by the Company, and (iii) defamation by Mr. O’Leary.

Pursuant to a stipulation entered into by the parties to this matter, the Company and Mr. O’Leary are scheduled to file their answer to the Benner Parties’ complaint on or before June 30, 2023.

GS Capital Partners, LLC v. DarkPulse, Inc.

On June 2, 2023, GS Capital Partners, LLC (“GS Capital”) commenced an action in the Supreme Court for New York County against the Company through the filing of motion for summary judgment in lieu of a complaint. The motion claims that the Company is in breach of a convertible promissory note, dated July 14, 2021, and accompanying securities purchase agreement, dated the same.

The motion claims that GS Capital is entitled to an award of $2,407,671, plus prejudgment interest and attorney’s fees, costs and disbursements.

The Company is currently looking to retain legal counsel to represent it in this matter, and intends to vigorously defend itself against GS Capital.

 From time to time, we may become involved in litigation relating to claims arising out of our operations in the normal course of business. We are not currently involved in any pending legal proceeding or litigation and, to the best of our knowledge, no governmental authority is contemplating any proceeding to which we are a party or to which any of our properties is subject, which would reasonably be likely to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.  

Not applicable.

PART II

Our common stock is traded on the OTC Markets under the trading symbol “DPLS.” The Company has 20,000,000,000 authorized common shares.

The following table sets forth the high and low bid of the Company’s Common Stock for each quarter within the past two completed fiscal and the current year. The information below was provided by the OTC Markets.

The number of shareholders of record of the Company's common stock as of June 22, 2023 was 949. An additional number of stockholders are beneficial holders of our Common Stock in “street name” through banks, brokers and other financial institutions that are the record holders.

We have not paid any cash dividends to date and we do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future. It is the present intention of management to utilize any available funds for the development of our business.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities.

On May 27, 2022, we entered into the Equity Financing Agreement with GHS (the “2022 EFA”), pursuant to which GHS agreed to purchase up to $70,000,000 in shares of our Common Stock, from time to time over the course of 24 months.

Below is a table of all puts made by the Company under the 2022 EFA during the quarter ended December 31, 2022:

The shares issued in reliance upon the exemption from securities registration afforded by Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act and Rule 506(b) of Regulation D under the Securities Act, based in part on the representations of the investor. There were $125,911 in sales commissions paid to J.H. Darbie & Co., Inc. (“J.H. Darbie”) pursuant to these transactions.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

As of December 31, 2022, there were no securities authorized for issuance under equity compensation plans.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

None.

This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contain certain forward-looking statements. Historical results may not indicate future performance. Our forward-looking statements reflect our current views about future events; are based on assumptions and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Factors that may cause differences between actual results and those contemplated by forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the “Risk Factors” section. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, including any changes that might result from any facts, events, or circumstances after the date hereof that may bear upon forward-looking statements. Furthermore, we cannot guarantee future results, events, levels of activity, performance, or achievements

Critical Accounting Policies

The following discussions are based upon our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of the Company’s financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Significant estimates and assumptions reflected in these financial statements include, but are not limited to, assumptions used to calculate derivative liabilities, revenue recognition and impairment of long-lived assets. The Company bases its estimates on historical experience, known trends and other market-specific or other relevant factors that it believes to be reasonable under the circumstances. On an ongoing basis, management evaluates its estimates when there are changes in circumstances, facts and experience. Changes in estimates are recorded in the period in which they become known. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Long-Lived Assets and Goodwill

The Company accounts for long-lived assets in accordance with the provisions of ASC 360-10-35, Property, Plant and Equipment, Impairment or Disposal of Long-lived Assets. This accounting standard requires that long-lived assets be reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset to future undiscounted net cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. If the carrying amount of an asset exceeds its estimated future cash flows, an impairment charge is recognized by the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset exceeds the fair value of the asset.

Indefinite-lived intangible assets established in connection with business combinations consist of the tradename. The impairment test for identifiable indefinite-lived intangible assets consists of a comparison of the estimated fair value of the intangible asset with its carrying value. If the carrying value exceeds its fair value, an impairment loss is recognized in an amount equal to that excess.

The Company accounts for goodwill and intangible assets in accordance with ASC 350, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price of an entity over the estimated fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed. ASC 350 requires that goodwill and other intangibles with indefinite lives be tested for impairment annually or on an interim basis if events or circumstances indicate that the fair value of an asset has decreased below its carrying value. This guidance simplifies the accounting for goodwill impairment by removing Step 2 of the goodwill impairment test, which requires a hypothetical purchase price allocation. The quantitative impairment test calculates any goodwill impairment as the difference between the carrying amount of a reporting unit and its fair value, but not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill. It is our practice, at a minimum, to perform a qualitative or quantitative goodwill impairment test in the fourth quarter every year. The Company has one reporting unit it evaluates during its impairment test.

In determining the fair value of the reporting unit, management estimated the price that would be received to sell the reporting unit as a whole in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. This includes reviewing market comparables such as revenue multipliers and assigning certain assets and liabilities to the reporting units, such as the respective working capital deficits of each entity and debt obligations that would need to be assumed by a market participant buyer in an orderly transaction. The Company calculated the carrying amounts of the reporting unit by utilizing the entities’ assets and liabilities at December 31, 2022, including the carrying value of the identifiable intangible assets and goodwill assigned to the respective reporting unit.

Revenue Recognition

The Company’s revenues are generated primarily from the sale of our services, which consist primarily of advanced technology solutions for integrated communications and security systems, as well as habitat management. The Company’s sales of products are primarily generated from our TJM subsidiaries. Sales of products and services are separate from one another. At contract inception, we assess the goods and services promised in the contract with customers and identify a performance obligation for each. To determine the performance obligation, we consider all products and services promised in the contract regardless of whether they are explicitly stated or implied by customary business practices. The timing of satisfaction of the performance obligation is not subject to significant judgment. We measure revenue as the amount of consideration expected to be received in exchange for transferring goods and services. We recognize service revenues as the performance obligations are met, which is generally as milestones are satisfied over time. We generally recognize product revenues at the time of shipment, provided that all other revenue recognition criteria have been met.

The Company recognizes revenue when its customer obtains control of promised goods or services, in an amount that reflects the consideration which we expect to receive in exchange for those goods or services. To determine revenue recognition for arrangements that the Company determines are within the scope of ASC 606, we perform the following five steps: (i) identify the contract(s) with a customer; (ii) identify the performance obligations in the contract; (iii) determine the transaction price; (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and (v) recognize revenue when (or as) we satisfy a performance obligation. The five-step model is applied to contracts when it is probable that we will collect the consideration we are entitled to in exchange for the goods or services transferred to the customer. At contract inception, once the contract is determined to be within the scope of ASC 606, we assess the goods or services promised within each contract and determine those that are performance obligations and assess whether each promised good or service is distinct. We then recognize revenue in the amount of the transaction price that is allocated to the respective performance obligation when (or as) the performance obligation is satisfied.

The Company considers each individual sale of service contract to be its own performance obligation. Services in the contract are highly interdependent and interrelated, and the successful completion of each milestone is necessary for the overall success of the contract. Therefore, each milestone is not separately identifiable from other promises in the contract, and not distinct and ultimately not individual performance obligations.

The Company records revenue over time using the output measure as it is the most faithful depiction of an entity’s performance because it directly measures the value of the goods and services transferred to the customer. The Company utilizes the Right to Invoice for these contracts, as the pricing structure is based on various milestones that are specified in the contract. These milestones include Construction Phase Plan, Start of the construction phase, installation phase, site surveys, fiber splicing, recoveries, and closeouts. There are specified payments associated with these milestones in the contract, and the value allocated is commensurate with work done. In the event that there are advances such as upfront retainers and not based on the value, those are recorded as contract liabilities.

In accordance with ASU No. 2016-12, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Narrow-Scope Improvements and Practical Expedient, which is to (1) clarify the objective of the collectability criterion for applying paragraph 606-10-25-7; (2) permit an entity to exclude amounts collected from customers for all sales (and other similar) taxes from the transaction price; (3) specify that the measurement date for noncash consideration is contract inception; (4) provide a practical expedient that permits an entity to reflect the aggregate effect of all modifications that occur before the beginning of the earliest period presented when identifying the satisfied and unsatisfied performance obligations, determining the transaction price, and allocating the transaction price to the satisfied and unsatisfied performance obligations; (5) clarify that a completed contract for purposes of transition is a contract for which all (or substantially all) of the revenue was recognized under legacy GAAP before the date of initial application, and (6) clarify that an entity that retrospectively applies the guidance in Topic 606 to each prior reporting period is not required to disclose the effect of the accounting change for the period of adoption. The amendments of this ASU are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, and interim periods within those fiscal years. There was no impact as a result of adopting this ASU on the financial statements and related disclosures. Based on the terms and conditions of the product arrangements, the Company believes that its products and services can be accounted for separately as its products and services have value to the Company’s customers on a stand-alone basis. When a transaction involves more than one product or service, revenue is allocated to each deliverable based on its relative fair value; otherwise, revenue is recognized as products are delivered or as services are provided over the term of the customer contract.

Derivative Financial Instruments

The Company evaluates the embedded conversion feature within its convertible debt instruments under ASC 815-15 and ASC 815-40 to determine if the conversion feature meets the definition of a liability and, if so, whether to bifurcate the conversion feature and account for it as a separate derivative liability. For derivative financial instruments that are accounted for as liabilities, the derivative instrument is initially recorded at its fair value and is then re-valued at each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the statements of operations. For stock-based derivative financial instruments, the Company uses a lattice model, in accordance with ASC 815-15, Derivative and Hedging, to value the derivative instruments at inception and on subsequent valuation dates. The classification of derivative instruments, including whether such instruments should be recorded as liabilities or as equity, is evaluated at the end of each reporting period. Derivative instrument liabilities are classified in the balance sheet as current or non-current based on whether net-cash settlement of the derivative instrument could be required within 12 months after the balance sheet date.

Business Overview

DarkPulse, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company” or “DarkPulse”), is a technology and research and development company focused on the manufacture, sale, installation, and monitoring of laser sensing systems based on its patented BOTDA dark-pulse sensor technology. The Company develops, markets, and distributes a full suite of engineering, monitoring, installation and security management solutions for critical infrastructure/key resources to both industries and governments. Coupled with our patented BOTDA technology, DarkPulse provides its customers a comprehensive data stream of critical metrics for assessing the health and security of their infrastructure. Our systems provide rapid, precise analysis and responsive activities predetermined by the end-user customer. The Company’s activities since inception have consisted of developing various solutions, obtaining patents and trademarks related to its technology, raising capital, acquisition of companies deemed to expand global operations and/or capabilities, creating key partnerships to expand our suite of products and services. Our activities have evolved to a sales-focused mission since the successful completion of our BOTDA system in December 2020.

Headquartered in Houston, DarkPulse is a globally-based technology company with presence through its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, India, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Turkey, Azerbaijan, United States and Canada. In addition to the Company’s BOTDA systems, through a series of strategic acquisitions the Company offers the manufacture, sale, installation, and monitoring of laser sensing systems, oil and gas pipeline leak detection, physical security services, telecommunications and satellite communications services, artificial intelligence-based camera systems, railway monitoring services, drone and rover systems, and Big Data as a Service (“BDaaS”). The Company is focused on expanding services through acquisitions and partnerships to address global infrastructure and critical environmental resource challenges.

DarkPulse offers a full suite of engineering and environmental solutions that provide safety and security infrastructure projects. The sensing and monitoring capabilities offered by DarkPulse and our subsidiary companies operate in the air, land, sea. Our patented technology provides rapid, precise analysis to protect and safeguard oil and gas pipelines above or below ground, physical security countermeasures, mining operations, and other critical infrastructure/key resources subject to vulnerability or risk. Our patented brillouin scattering distributed fiber sensing system is best in class. The Company is able to monitor areas in around critical infrastructure buried or above ground including pipelines 100km or more in length and/ or localized pipes as small as eight CM DIA, detecting internal anomalies before catastrophic failure. We are developing an intelligent rock bolt to prevent causalities and fatalities in mining operations and include a real time sensor system that can detect the location and movement of personnel and equipment throughout a mining operation. We monitor airflow, air quality, temperature, seismic events, etc. Our sensors cover extended areas, protecting an area from intrusion by detecting events at any location along the sensing cable. Working safely every day is our first core value and employees at DarkPulse and our subsidiary companies are recognized experts in their fields, providing comprehensive services for all our clients' needs.

Our Subsidiaries

Our subsidiaries consist of, Optilan, a company headquartered in Coventry, United Kingdom whose focus is in telecommunications, energy, rail, critical network infrastructure, pipeline integrity systems, renewables and security; Remote Intelligence, Limited Liability Company, a company headquartered in Pennsylvania who provides unmanned aerial drone and unmanned ground crawler (UGC) services to a variety of clients from industrial mapping and ecosystem services, to search and rescue, to pipeline security; Wildlife Specialists, Limited Liability Company, a company headquartered in Pennsylvania who provides clients with comprehensive wildlife and environmental assessment, planning, and monitoring services; TerraData Unmanned, PLLC, a company headquartered in Florida who custom manufactures NDAA compliant drones and unmanned ground crawlers to meet the needs of its customers; and TJM Electronics West, Inc., a company headquartered in Arizona who is a U.S. manufacturer and tester of advanced electronics, cables and sub-assemblies specializing in advanced package and complex CCA and hardware.

Recent Events

Acquisitions

On August 9, 2021, we entered into a Share Purchase Agreement with Optilan Guernsey Limited and Optilan Holdco 2 Limited (the “Sellers”), pursuant to which we purchased from the Sellers all of the issued and outstanding equity interests of Optilan for £1.00. Optilan is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.

On August 30, 2021, we closed two separate Membership Interest Purchase Agreements (the “MPAs”) with RI and WS pursuant to which we agreed to pay to the majority shareholder of each of RI and WS an aggregate of 15,000,000 shares of our Common Stock, $500,000 to be paid on the closing date, and an additional $500,000 to be paid 12 weeks from closing date in exchange for 60% ownership of each of RI and WS. RI and WS are now subsidiaries of the Company.

On September 8, 2021, we entered into and closed the Stock Purchase Agreement (the “TJM SPA”) with TJM and TJM’s shareholders, pursuant to which we agreed to purchase all of the equity interests in TJM in exchange for $450,000, subject to adjustments as defined in the TJM SPA. TJM is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.

Effective October 1, 2021, we entered into and closed the Membership Purchase Agreement (the “TerraData MPA”) with TerraData and Justin Dee, the sole shareholder of TerraData, pursuant to which we agreed to purchase 60% of the equity interests in TerraData in exchange for 3,725,386 shares of our Common Stock and $400,000, subject to adjustments as defined in the TerraData MPA, to be paid within 12 weeks of closing. TerraData is now a subsidiary of the Company. The shares were issued in 2022.

Financings

On November 9, 2021, we entered an Equity Financing Agreement (the “Equity Financing Agreement”) and Registration Rights Agreement (the “GHS Registration Rights Agreement”) with GHS, pursuant to which GHS agreed to purchase up to $30,000,000 in shares of our Common Stock, from time to time over the course of 24 months (the “Contract Period”) after effectiveness of a registration statement on Form S-1 (the “Registration Statement”) of the underlying shares of Common Stock.

The GHS Registration Rights Agreement provides that we shall (i) use our best efforts to file with the SEC a Registration Statement within 45 days of the date of the GHS Registration Rights Agreement; and (ii) have the Registration Statement declared effective by the SEC within 30 days after the date the GHS Registration Statement is filed with the SEC, but in no event more than 90 days after the GHS Registration Statement is filed.

On May 27, 2022, we entered the 2022 EFA and Registration Rights Agreement (the “RRA”) with GHS, pursuant to which GHS agreed to purchase up to $70,000,000 in shares of our Common Stock, from time to time over the course of 24 months after effectiveness of a registration statement on Form S-1 (the “Registration Statement”) of the underlying shares of Common Stock.

The RRA provides that we shall (i) use our best efforts to file with the SEC a Registration Statement within 45 days of the date of the GHS Registration Rights Agreement; and (ii) have the Registration Statement declared effective by the SEC within 30 days after the date the GHS Registration Statement is filed with the SEC, but in no event more than 90 days after the GHS Registration Statement is filed.

Below is a table of all puts made by the Company under the Equity Financing Agreement and 2022 EFA during 2022:

Partnerships

We have entered into a consulting agreement with the Bachner Group to assist in the successful transformation from an R&D focused company to a sales-focused company and assist us with federal contract opportunities.

Other Events

On August 3, 2021, we entered into an Engagement Agreement and Terms and Conditions (the “EIAP Agreement”) with Energy & Industrial Advisory Partners, LLC (“EIAP”). Pursuant to the EIAP Agreement, we have engaged EIAP to serve as an advisor to us in the proposed transaction for agreed target company or any of its subsidiaries and/or the whole or any part of its or their business or assets (the “Transaction”). EIAP will receive a monthly retainer of $10,000 per month payable upon receipt of an invoice. EIAP will also receive a consulting bonus fee of $350,000 payable upon completion of the Transaction. In the event of successful completion of the Transaction as a result of EIAP’s involvement, EIAP agrees to deduct the total retainer fee from the consulting bonus fee. The EIAP Agreement may be terminated, with or without cause, by either party upon ten days’ written prior notice thereof to the other party. If (a) during the term of the EIAP Agreement, or (b) within two years following the date of the EIAP Agreement’s termination by us (provided that such two-year period shall be extended by the same period of time that we take to settle in full all fees, expenses and/or outlays due or to become due to EIAP as at the date of the EIAP Agreement’s termination), we complete a transaction with the target company or a similar transaction to the Transaction, then we will pay the consulting bonus fee at the completion of the transaction. To date, the Transaction has not yet occurred.

Going Concern Uncertainty

As shown in the accompanying financial statements, the Company generated net losses of $35,517,505 and $4,826,320 during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, the Company’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by $11,562,784 and an accumulated deficit of $46,555,334. As of December 31, 2022, the Company had $2,060,332 of cash.

We will require additional funding to finance the growth of our operations and achieve our strategic objectives. These factors, as relative to capital raising activities, create substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern. We are seeking to raise additional capital and are targeting strategic partners in an effort to accelerate the sales and marketing of our products and begin generating revenues. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon the success of future capital offerings or alternative financing arrangements, expansion of our operations and generating sales. The accompanying financial statements do not include any adjustments that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern. Management is actively pursuing additional sources of financing sufficient to generate enough cash flow to fund its operations; however, management cannot make any assurances that such financing will be secured.

Foreign Currency Risk

In general, the Company is a net receiver of currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Accordingly, changes in exchange rates, and in particular a strengthening of the U.S. dollar, will negatively affect the Company’s net sales and gross margins as expressed in U.S. dollars. There is a risk that the Company will have to adjust local currency product pricing due to competitive pressures when there has been significant volatility in foreign currency exchange rates.

Results of Operations

Revenues

Since 2021, we have recognized revenue derived from the acquisitions of our subsidiaries consummated during the periods ended September 30, 2021 through present.

The Company’s revenues are generated primarily from the sale of our services, which consist primarily of advanced technology solutions for integrated communications and security systems, as well as habitat management. The Company’s sales of products are primarily generated from our TJM subsidiaries.

The Company’s future revenues will be derived from the following, among other things.

While the Company recognizes revenue when its customer obtains control of promised goods or services, in an amount that reflects the consideration which we expect to receive in exchange for those goods or services, the Company also maintains multiple contracts for future material revenues, including part of framework contracts that will be recognized during future reporting periods.

For the year ended December 31, 2022, total revenues were $9,100,255 compared to $7,783,340 for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $1,316,915. The increase was primarily due to a full year of revenue generated from the Company’s subsidiaries acquired in 2021. The breakdown of revenues by entity for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 is as follows:

Cost of Revenues and Gross Margin

For the year ended December 31, 2022, cost of revenues was $14,543,529 compared to $6,685,210 for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $7,858,319. The increase was primarily due to a full year of cost of revenue incurred from the Company’s subsidiaries acquired in 2021. The Optilan cost of revenue in 2022 of $13,069,792 increased $6,699,322 over 2021. During 2022, it was realized that certain Fixed Price quoted contracts, with design and execution issues, prolonged the completion of the projects. These delays resulted in significant excess costs of approximately $6,061,790. These costs were related to labor, subcontractor, and material costs, along with Covid-19 and current inflation rates. The remaining $637,532 increase is related to warranty and other work associated with different projects. The company has adequately reserved for these costs through completion of the projects in the third quarter of 2023. Unfortunately, there was very little foresight into the magnitude of the loss. The Company believes that this is not a recurring issue with Optilan and/or its business model. The Company has undertaken internal procedures during its bid process to assure that such practices will not occur in the future.

Gross (loss) profit for the year ended December 31, 2022 was ($5,443,275) with a gross loss of (60)% compared to $1,098,130 for the year ended December 31, 2021 with a 14% gross margin.

Operating Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses for year ended December 31, 2022 increased by $1,047,735, or 27%, to $4,966,702 from $3,918,967 for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase primarily consisted of an increase to the operations from our various acquisitions, including higher travel, advertising costs, insurance and information technology expenses.

Salaries, wages and payroll taxes for year ended December 31, 2022 increased to $7,457,491 from $2,653,683 for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase primarily consisted of an increase in the numbers of employees inherited from our various acquisitions, and a full year of personnel costs from these entities. Salaries, wages and payroll taxes was primarily driven by $4,601,840 incurred at the Optilan subsidiary.

Professional fees for the year ended December 31, 2022, increased to $3,718,171 from $2,930,245 for the year ended December 31, 2021. This increase primarily consisted of legal expenditures incurred by DarkPulse for corporate matters, including the Company’s SPAC transaction, as well as a full year of professional fees incurred by Optilan.

Depreciation and amortization for year ended December 31, 2022, increased to $1,568,405 from $258,306 for the year ended December 31, 2021. This increase is primarily due to the increase in the depreciable assets we acquired from new acquisitions, primarily Optilan’s property and equipment as well as amortization of its intangible asset.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recorded a gain on forgiveness of payables of $312,685.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company recorded $12,222,598 in impairment on the Company’s goodwill and intangible assets.

Other Income (Expense)

For the year ended December 31, 2022, we had other expense of ($453,549) compared to other income of $4,021,700 for the year ended December 31, 2021. The decrease in other income was primarily due to higher interest expense in 2022, a gain on forgiveness of liabilities of $3,488,860 in 2021, as well as a lower gain on the change in fair value of derivative liabilities.

Net Loss

As a result of the above, we reported a net loss of $35,517,505 and $4,826,320 for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We require working capital to fund the continued development and commercialization of our proprietary fiber optic sensing devices, and for operating expenses. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we had $24,276,308 in cash proceeds from our equity financings compared to $14,593,327 in 2021.

As of December 31, 2022, we had cash of $2,060,332 compared to $3,658,846 as of December 31, 2021. We currently do not have sufficient cash to fund our operations for the next 12 months and we will require working capital to complete development, testing and marketing of our products and to pay for ongoing operating expenses. We anticipate adding consultants for technology development and the corresponding operations of the Company, but this will not occur prior to obtaining additional capital. Management is currently in the process of looking for additional investors. Currently, loans from banks or other lending sources for lines of credit or similar short-term borrowings are not available to us. We have been able to raise working capital to fund operations through the issuances of convertible notes or obtained through the issuance of our restricted common stock. As of December 31, 2022, our current liabilities exceeded our current assets by $11,562,784.

Several of our significant operating subsidiaries have borrowed funds from DarkPulse. The terms of the instruments governing the indebtedness of these borrowers or borrowing groups may restrict our ability to access their accumulated cash. In addition, our ability to access the liquidity of these and other subsidiaries may be limited by tax, legal and other considerations.

Our executive officers and our Board of Directors review our sources and potential uses of cash in connection with our annual budgeting process and whenever circumstances warrant. Generally speaking, our principal funding source is cash from financing activities, and our principal cash requirements include loans to our operating subsidiaries, operating expenses, and capital expenditures,

Cash Flows From Operating Activities

During the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash used by operating activities was $21,738,542 resulting from our net loss of $35,517,505, partially offset by non-cash charges of $13,307,813 primarily driven by our goodwill impairment. In 2022, we had cash provided by our operating assets and liabilities of $471,149 primarily driven by decreases in accounts receivable and increases in accounts payable partially offset by decreases in other liabilities.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, net cash used by operating activities was $11,363,470, resulting from our net loss of $4,826,320, non-cash gains of $3,279,403 and cash used in our operating assets and liabilities of $3,257,746.

Cash Flows From Investing Activities

During the year ended December 31, 2022, we had net cash used in investing activities of $5,045,405, including the issuance of our note receivable and investment with the SPAC totaling $2,549,248, joint venture investment of $103,505 and purchase of property and equipment of $2,074,627.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, we had net cash used in investing activities of $1,689,153, primarily due from the purchase of property and equipment and net cash used in business acquisitions.

Cash Flows From Financing Activities

During the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash provided by financing activities was $24,165,801 which was primarily comprised of proceeds from the sale of common stock of $24,276,308, net of costs of $1,934,200, less net repayments of loans of $110,507.

During the year ended December 31, 2021, net cash provided by financing activities was $17,311,427, comprised of proceeds from the sale of common stock from offering of $14,593,327, the issuance of convertible debt in the amount of $1,102,700, the issuance of notes payable of $2,000,000 offset by payments on convertible debt of $384,600.

Factors That May Affect Future Results

Management’s Discussion and Analysis contains information based on management’s beliefs and forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including but not limited to, our ability to obtain the equity funding or borrowings necessary to market and launch our products, our ability to successfully serially produce and market our products; our success establishing and maintaining collaborative licensing and supplier arrangements; the acceptance of our products by customers; our continued ability to pay operating costs; our ability to meet demand for our products; the amount and nature of competition from our competitors; the effects of technological changes on products and product demand; and our ability to successfully adapt to market forces and technological demands of our customers.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future material effect on our consolidated financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity capital expenditures or capital resources.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In November 2021, the FASB issued ASU No. 2021-08, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Accounting for Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities from Contracts with Customers, issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. This ASU requires entities to recognize and measure contract assets and contract liabilities acquired in a business combination in accordance with ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606). The update will generally result in the recognition of contract assets and contract liabilities at amounts consistent with those recorded by the acquiree immediately before the acquisition  date rather than at fair value. The Company expects that there would be no material impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements upon the adoption of this ASU.

In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-06, which simplifies the guidance on the issuer’s accounting for convertible debt instruments by removing the separation models for convertible debt with a cash conversion feature and convertible instruments with a beneficial conversion feature. As a result, entities will not separately present in equity an embedded conversion feature in such debt and will account for a convertible debt instrument wholly as debt, unless certain other conditions are met. The elimination of these models will reduce reported interest expense and increase reported net income for entities that have issued a convertible instrument that is within the scope of ASU 2020-06. ASU 2020-06 is applicable for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, with early adoption permitted no earlier than fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06 on January 1, 2022 and the adoption of this ASU did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

Not applicable.

The financial statements of the Company are included beginning on page F-1 immediately following the signature page to this Form 10-K.

None.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We have established disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in reports filed or submitted under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC and, as such, is accumulated and communicated to our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Dennis O’Leary, who serves as our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Mr. O’Leary, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) of the Exchange Act, as of December 31, 2022. Based on his evaluation, Mr. O’Leary concluded that, due to material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as described below, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2022. In light of the material weakness in internal control over financial reporting, we completed substantive procedures, including validating the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data used for accounting prior to filing this Form 10-K.

These additional procedures have allowed us to conclude that, notwithstanding the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, the consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K fairly present, in all material respects, our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal controls over financial reporting for the Company. Due to limited resources, management conducted an evaluation of internal controls based on criteria established in 2013 Internal Control - Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). The results of this evaluation determined that our internal control over financial reporting was ineffective as of December 31, 2022, due to material weaknesses. A material weakness in internal control over financial reporting is defined as a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. A significant deficiency is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting that is less severe than a material weakness, yet important enough to merit attention by those responsible for oversight of our financial reporting.

Management’s assessment identified the following material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting:

As a result of the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting described above, our management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2022, our internal control over financial reporting was not effective based on the criteria in Internal Control - Integrated Framework issued by the COSO.

We will continue to follow the standards for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) for internal control over financial reporting to include procedures that:

Despite the material weaknesses in financial reporting noted above, we believe that our financial statements included in this report fairly present our financial position, results of operations and cash flows as of and for the years presented in all material respects.

Changes in Internal Controls

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fiscal quarter covered by this report that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

We have taken limited steps to meet our Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Section 404 compliance requirements and implement procedures to assure financial reports are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and therefore fairly represent the results and condition of the Company. We are not materially compliant with the Section 404 requirements due to economic constraints.

None.

Not applicable to the Company.

PART III

Executive Officers and Directors

The following table sets forth the name, age, and position of each executive officer and director of the Company:

Dennis M. O’Leary, Chairman, CEO, President, CFO. Mr. O’Leary was appointed as the DarkPulse’s Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Financial Officer and Chairman of the Board in April 2018. Mr. O’Leary is a serial entrepreneur with significant international experience having founded Sulu Electric Power and Light Corp (Philippines), a firm with expertise in utility scale power generation and solar energy. In 2010, Mr. O’Leary co-founded DarkPulse Technologies Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of DarkPulse, which is developing specialized devices that monitor activities along national borders and provide structural health and safety monitoring of oil and gas pipelines. He holds extensive start-up experience including multiple exit strategies. Mr. O’Leary is an Ambassador for the Province of New Brunswick, Canada, and a Research Member of the NATO Science and Technology Organization. He served as a member of the Board at Arizona State University’s School of Engineering, Global Resolve as Chair of the Impact Committee. His previous employment includes the NYPD where he worked as a member of the Manhattan North Tactical Narcotics Team, which prosecuted establishments involved in the illegal distribution of narcotics. He was a member of a joint taskforce working with the DEA and USINS in the execution of warrants related to narcotics trafficking. While at the NYPD, he was assigned to the Department of Justice as a member of the FBI’s investigative team with internal designation C14. He is a licensed private pilot with turbine experience. Mr. O’Leary was appointed as a Director due to his extensive experience in the industries in which DarkPulse operates. Mr. O’Leary is not, and has not been during the past five years, the director of any other public companies.

Dr. Anthony Brown, Director. Dr. Brown has served as a Director of DarkPulse since April 2019. He is a physicist and scientist with extensive experience in the development of Brillouin scattering-based distributed fiber optic sensing. In 2010, Dr. Brown co-founded DarkPulse Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of DarkPulse. Dr. Brown has more than 25 years of research and lecturing experience gained at the University of New Brunswick (“UNB”), focusing primarily on the development of Brillouin scattering-based distributed fiber optic sensor technology. From 2001 to 2012, Dr. Brown served as an assistant professor and research associate at UNB. During Dr. Brown’s tenure at UNB, he was instrumental in developing numerous patents in the field of fiber optic sensing. From 2012 to 2015, Dr. Brown served as an Adjunct Professor at UNB. From 2013 through the present, Dr. Brown has served as a data scientist for Xplornet Communications, Inc. From 2018 through the present, Dr. Brown has served as a consultant for DarkPulse. Dr. Brown received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from UNB in 1995, and a PhD in Physics from UNB in 2001. Dr. Brown was appointed as a Director due to his extensive experience in the development of Brillouin scattering-based distributed fiber optic sensing. Dr. Brown is not, and has not been during the past five years, the director of any other public companies.

Craig Atkin, Director. Mr. Atkin has served as a Director of DarkPulse since June 2023. He is also the Chief Commercial Officer of Optilan. Mr. Atkin has an engineering background with a first class honours degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Project Management. With over 20 years’ experience across energy, security, communications and technology sectors in both operational and leadership roles. His previous role was the management of two power stations within the UK for a multinational energy company. Mr. Atkin has also worked in conventional, renewable and offshore wind environments. He is experienced working and leading international teams and large scale projects. Mr. Atkin is commercially-experienced across contract setup and negotiation, M&A and operational works. Mr. Atkin was appointed as a Director due to his experience with Optilan. Mr. Atkin is not, and has not been during the past five years, the director of any other public companies.

Jason Keith, CEO, Optilan. Mr. Keith has served as the CEO of Optilan since July 2022. He oversees all commercial, procurement and tendering activities across the Optilan Group and is responsible for the delivery, development and maintenance of these services in compliance with Group policies, procedures and legislation. This is whilst simultaneously ensuring the safe, efficient and economic execution in support of Optilan’s operational requirements. Mr. Keith has 28 years’ experience predominantly within the energy industry, working for major multi-national and international contracting companies across the globe. This includes his previous position at Wood plc, as well as Petrofac, Subsea 7 and BP. Throughout his professional tenure, Mr. Keith has held several commercial positions at both project and corporate levels, with the last 15 years spent in Senior Executive Leadership roles. He has extensive skills in commercial and contract management; this has encompassed valuable multi-cultural experiences, having lived, worked and managed teams across the globe. Mr. Keith holds a Masters in Oil & Gas Law (LLM) and a Postgraduate in Management, both of which he graduated with distinction from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He also holds a Diploma in Finance and a master’s certificate in Lean Six Sigma (Black Belt) attained through the Villanova University.

Legal Proceedings

During the past ten years there have been no events under any bankruptcy act, no criminal proceedings and no judgments, injunctions, orders or decrees material to the evaluation of the ability and integrity of any of our directors or executive officers, and none of these persons has been involved in any judicial or administrative proceedings resulting from involvement in mail or wire fraud or fraud in connection with any business entity, any judicial or administrative proceedings based on violations of federal or state securities, commodities, banking or insurance laws or regulations, or any disciplinary sanctions or orders imposed by a stock, commodities or derivatives exchange or other self-regulatory organization. 

Family Relationships

There are no family relationships between any of our directors and executive officers.

Audit Committee

We currently do not have a functioning Audit Committee. Our management is currently reviewing our SEC filings and relying on outside experts to assist with this process.

Compliance with Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires the Company’s directors, executive officers, and persons who own more than 10% of a registered class of the Company’s equity securities, to file with the Commission reports regarding initial ownership and changes in ownership. Directors, executive officers, and greater than 10% stockholders are required by the Commission to furnish the Company with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file.

We are not aware of any common stock transactions during the year ended December 31, 2022 for which either Forms 3, 4, or 5 were required to be filed.

Code of Ethics

We have not adopted a formal, written code of ethics due to a small number of members of management. We plan to adopt a Code of Ethics during the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023.

Summary Compensation for Named Executive Officers

The following table shows the executive compensation paid to our named executive officers for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021.

O’Leary Employment Agreement

On June 22, 2022, our Board of Directors, with Dennis O’Leary abstaining, approved the Employment Agreement dated effective April 1, 2022 with Mr. O’Leary, our Chief Executive Officer. The term of the agreement is three years from the April 1, 2022, subject to termination. The agreement may be terminated upon the death or disability of Mr. O’Leary or for “Cause,” as defined in the agreement. Pursuant to the agreement, Mr. O’Leary is entitled to an annual salary of $300,000, which may accrue and be paid once we have available funds. Any accrued and unpaid base salary may also be converted subject to mutual agreement of the Company and Mr. O’Leary. Also, pursuant to the agreement, Mr. O’Leary was issued 100 shares of Series A Super Voting Preferred Stock.

Summary Compensation for Directors

The following table shows the executive compensation paid to our directors (excluding named executive officers) for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Equity Awards

As of December 31, 2022, there were no outstanding equity awards.

Principal Shareholders

The table below sets forth information as to our directors, named executive officers, and executive officers and each person owning of record or was known by the Company to own beneficially shares of stock greater than 5% of the 7,312,175,610 (7,312,087,375 common plus 88,235 preferred) shares as of June 22, 2023. The table includes preferred stock that is convertible into common stock and information as to the ownership of the Company's Stock by each of its directors, named executive officers, and executive officers and by the directors and executive officers as a group. There were no stock options outstanding as of June 22, 2023. Except as otherwise indicated, all shares are owned directly, and the persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to shares shown as beneficially owned by them. The address for each of our directors, named executive officers, and executive officers is 815 Walker Street, Suite 1155, Houston, Texas 77002.

*Less than 1%

For transactions with our executive officers, please see the disclosure under “Item 11. Executive Compensation.” above.

Director Independence

We are not currently subject to listing requirements of any national securities exchange or inter-dealer quotation system which has requirements that a majority of the board of directors be “independent” and, as a result, we are not at this time required to have our Board of Directors comprised of a majority of “independent directors.”

We currently have not established any committees of the Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors may designate from among its members an executive committee and one or more other committees in the future. We do not have a nominating committee or a nominating committee charter. Further, we do not have a policy with regard to the consideration of any director candidates recommended by security holders. To date, other than as described above, no security holders have made any such recommendations. The entire Board of Directors performs all functions that would otherwise be performed by committees. Given the present size of our board it is not practical for us to have committees. If we are able to grow our business and increase our operations, we intend to expand the size of our board and allocate responsibilities accordingly.

Audit Fees. Consists of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audits of our financial statements, reviews of our interim financial statements included in quarterly reports, services performed in connection with filings with the SEC, and related other services that were provided by Boyle CPA (“Boyle”), our previous independent registered public accounting firm, and Urish Popeck & Co., LLC (“Urish”), our current independent registered public accounting firm, in connection with statutory and regulatory filings or engagements.

The following is a summary of the fees incurred by the Company to Boyle and Urish for professional services rendered for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Tax Fees. Consists of fees billed for professional services for tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning. These services include assistance regarding federal, state and local tax compliance and consultation in connection with various transactions. There were no tax fees incurred by the Company for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021.

Board of Directors Pre-Approval of Audit and Permissible Non-Audit Services of Independent Auditors

The Board of Directors may pre-approve all audit and non-audit services provided by the independent auditors. These services may include audit services, audit-related services, tax services and other services as allowed by law or regulation. Pre-approval is generally provided for up to one year and any pre-approval is detailed as to the particular service or category of services and is generally subject to a specifically approved amount. The independent auditors and management are required to periodically evaluate the extent of services provided by the independent auditors in accordance with this pre-approval and the fees incurred to date. The Board of Directors may also pre-approve particular services on a case-by-case basis.

The Board of Directors pre-approved 100% of the Company’s 2022 and 2021 audit fees, audit-related fees and all other fees.

Exhibits

The following exhibits are included as part of this Form 10-K: