Stock-Based Compensation | 15. Stock-Based Compensation 2022 Equity Inducement Plan On July 1, 2022, the Company’s board of directors approved the 2022 Equity Inducement Plan (the “2022 Inducement Plan”), which became effective on that date. The 2022 Inducement Plan allows the Company to make equity-based incentive awards to its officers and employees without stockholder approval pursuant to Rule 5635(c)(4) of the NASDAQ Listing Rules, or any successor rule relating to inducement awards. Unless earlier terminated by the Board, 2022 Inducement Plan will terminate on the ten th anniversary of the effective date. The Company has initially reserved 1,400,000 shares of its common stock for the issuance of awards under the 2022 Inducement Plan. As of December 31, 2023, options to purchase 828,432 shares of common stock and 138,871 restricted stock units were outstanding under the 2022 Inducement Plan and 346,443 shares remained available for future issuance under the 2022 Inducement Plan. 2021 Equity Incentive Plan On September 27, 2021, the Company’s board of directors and stockholders approved the 2021 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2021 Plan”), which became effective on October 7, 2021, when the Company’s registration statement was declared effective by the SEC. The 2021 Plan allows the Company to make equity-based and cash-based incentive awards to its officers, employees, directors and consultants. The Company has initially reserved 3,852,807 shares of its common stock for the issuance of awards under the 2021 Plan. The number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2021 Plan will automatically increase annually on the first day of each fiscal year, beginning with the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022, and continuing until (and including) the fiscal year ending December 31, 2031 by the lesser of (i) 5 % of the total number of shares of common stock outstanding on December 31st of the immediately preceding fiscal year and (ii) the number of shares as may be determined by the board of directors. On January 1, 2023, the number of shares of common stock available for issuance under the 2021 Plan increased by 1,755,501 shares as a result of the evergreen provision. The maximum number of shares of common stock that may be issued pursuant to the exercise of incentive options under the 2021 Plan is 7,705,614 . Unless earlier terminated by the Board, the 2021 Plan will terminate on the ten th anniversary of the effective date. As of December 31, 2023, options to purchase 2,037,393 shares of common stock and 2,452,500 restricted stock units were outstanding under the 2021 plan and 537,772 shares remained available for future issuance under the 2021 plan. 2019 Equity Incentive Plan In 2019, the Company established the 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2019 Plan” ), under which the Company is allowed to grant options and restricted stock to its employees and non-employees. The maximum number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2019 Plan is 4,042,408 shares. Options granted under the 2019 Plan include incentive stock options that can be granted only to the Company’s employees and non-statutory stock options that can be granted to the Company’s employees, consultants, advisors and directors. The 2019 Plan also permits the Company to issue restricted stock awards. Unless earlier terminated by the Board, the 2019 Plan will terminate on the ten th anniversary of the effective date. Prior to the IPO, the exercise prices, vesting and other restrictions of the awards granted under the 2019 Plan were determined by the board of directors, except that no stock option may be issued with an exercise price less than the fair market value of the common stock at the date of the grant or have a term in excess of ten years. Options granted under the 2019 Plan are exercisable in whole or in part at any time subsequent to vesting. As of December 31, 2023, options to purchase 2,272,833 shares of common stock and 962,390 restricted stock units were outstanding under the 2019 Plan and 52,299 shares remained available for future issuance under the 2019 Plan. 2022 Equity Incentive Plan Upon the Merger, the Company assumed Apexigen's 2022 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2022 Plan”), which allows the Company to grant options and restricted stock to eligible employees and non-employees. The Company initially reserved 443,912 shares of its common stock for the issuance of awards under the 2022 Plan. The number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2022 Plan will automatically increase on January 1 of each calendar year, starting on January 1, 2023 through January 1, 2032, in an amount equal to the lesser of (i) 0.8625 % of the total number of shares of common stock outstanding on the last day of the calendar month before the date of each automatic increase, (ii) 554,890 shares, or (iii) such number of shares determined by the administrator of the 2022 Plan. On January 1, 2023, the number of shares of common stock available for issuance under the 2022 Plan increased by 554,890 shares as a result of the evergreen provision. The maximum number of shares of common stock that may be issued pursuant to the exercise of incentive options under the 2022 Plan is 597,077 . Unless earlier terminated by the Board, the 2022 Plan will terminate on the tenth anniversary of the effective date. As of December 31, 2023, options to purchase 843,806 shares of common stock and 77,670 RSUs were outstanding under the 2022 Plan and 77,326 shares remained available for future issuance under the 2022 Plan. The Company also assumed Apexigen's 2020 Equity Incentive Plan, (“2020 Plan”) as a result of the Merger. Outstanding awards granted under the 2020 Plan will remain subject to the terms of the plan, and shares underlying awards granted under such plan that are cancelled or forfeited will be available for issuance under the 2022 Plan, as applicable. 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan On September 27, 2021, the Company’s board of directors and stockholders approved the 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “2021 ESPP”), which became effective on October 7, 2021, when the Company’s registration statement was declared effective by the SEC. The 2021 ESPP initially reserved and authorized the issuance of up to a total of 424,595 shares of common stock to participating employees. The number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the ESPP will automatically increase annually on the first day of each fiscal year, beginning with the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022, and continuing until (and including) the fiscal year ending December 31, 2031 by the lesser of (i) 110,080 shares, (ii) 1 % of the total number of shares of common stock outstanding on December 31st of the immediately preceding fiscal year and (iii) the number of shares as may be determined by the board of directors. On January 1, 2023, the number of shares of common stock available for issuance under the 2021 ESPP increased by 110,080 shares as a result of the evergreen provision. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company issued 79,350 shares of common stock pursuant to the ESPP. As of December 31, 2023, the authorized number of shares and shares available for issuance under the 2021 ESPP is 565,405 . Repricing of Outstanding and Unexercised Options On March 24, 2023 and in accordance with the terms of the 2019 Plan, the board of directors approved a stock option repricing (the “Repricing”) where the exercise price of each Relevant Option (as defined below) was reduced to $ 2.21 per share, the closing stock price on the date of approval by the board of directors. “Relevant Options” are all outstanding stock options as of March 24, 2023 (vested or unvested) to acquire shares of the Company’s common stock that were issued to current employees of the Company under the 2019 Plan prior to the Company’s IPO. Members of the board of directors did not participate in the Repricing. The board of directors believes that the Repricing is in the best interests of the Company, as the amended stock options will provide added incentives to retain and motivate key contributors of the Company without incurring the stock dilution resulting from significant additional equity grants or significant additional cash expenditures resulting from additional cash compensation. The board of directors also believes that the Repricing better aligns the interests of the key contributors with the goals of the Company. The option repricing resulted in incremental stock-based compensation of $ 1.1 million, of which $ 0.9 million was recorded as expense during the year ended December 31, 2023. The remaining expense will be recognized over the requisite service period in which the stock options vest. Apexigen Replacement Options and Replacement RSU Awards As described in Note 3, Acquisition of Apexigen , pursuant to the Merger Agreement , each outstanding stock option issued by Apexigen as of the Closing Date was assumed and converted into an option to acquire the Company’s common stock and each outstanding restricted stock unit awarded by Apexigen as of the Closing Date was assumed and converted into an award of the Company's common stock, on substantially similar terms and conditions as were applicable under such Apexigen equity plans. At the Closing Date, the Company issued approximately 712,181 Replacement Options and 34,500 Replacement RSU Awards to Apexigen grantholders. The acquisition date fair value of the Replacement Options was determined by the Black-Scholes option-pricing model and the acquisition date fair value attributable to the pre-combination services of $ 0.1 million is included in the purchase price, which is included in Note 3, Acquisition of Apexigen . The Replacement Options and Replacement RSU Awards will continue to vest over the remaining vesting period through the earlier of exercise, expiration or forfeiture. The number of stock options, RSUs and warrants and their respective exercise prices were adjusted by the Exchange Ratio. Stock Options Stock options granted under the 2022 Inducement Plan, 2022 Plan, 2020 Plan, 2021 Plan and 2019 Plan (together, the “Plans”) to employees generally vest over four years and expire after 10 years . The following table summarizes stock option activity for the year ended December 31, 2023 (in thousands, except share and per share amounts): Number of Options Weighted Average Weighted Average Aggregate Outstanding at January 1, 2023 5,720,415 $ 9.68 8.8 $ 72 Granted 1,078,717 1.87 Replacement Options (1) 712,181 17.57 Exercised ( 83,235 ) 1.49 Expired ( 721,598 ) 13.63 Forfeited ( 724,016 ) 8.23 Outstanding at December 31, 2023 5,982,464 $ 7.31 (1) 7.6 $ 141 (2) Options exercisable at December 31, 2023 3,300,648 $ 7.97 (1) 6.8 $ 44 (2) (1) Represents Replacement Options issued to Apexigen grantholders pursuant to the Merger Agreement. (2) The weighted average exercise price and aggregate intrinsic value as of December 31, 2023 reflect the impact of the stock option repricing discussed above. The weighted-average grant-date fair value of options granted during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, was $ 1.87 and $ 3.06 per share, respectively. The aggregate intrinsic value is calculated as the difference between the exercise price of all outstanding and exercisable stock options and the fair value of the Company’s common stock of $ 1.80 per share as of December 29, 2023, the last trading day prior to the year-end 2023. The aggregate intrinsic value of stock options exercised during both of the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 was approximately $ 0.1 million. The Company has an aggregate $ 9.1 million of gross unrecognized stock-based compensation expense as of December 31, 2023, remaining to be amortized over a weighted average period of 1.95 years. The Company has not recognized and does not expect to recognize in the near future, any tax benefit related to employee stock-based compensation expense as a result of the full valuation allowance related to its net deferred tax assets. The Company estimated the fair value of each option on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model applying the range of assumptions in the following table: Year Ended December 31, 2023 2022 Expected volatility 97.11 % - 118.90 % 96.09 % - 101.66 % Risk-free interest rate 3.58 % - 5.57 % 1.60 % - 4.02 % Expected dividend yield 0.00 % 0.00 % Expected term (in years) 0.25 - 6.08 6.00 - 6.11 Restricted Stock Units Under the Plans, during the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company granted 4,200,428 RSUs to employees and non-employees. Compensation costs related to these RSUs were recorded based on the Company's stock price on the date of issuance and amortized over the service period. Additionally, the Company issued certain shares of restricted common stock awards (“RSA” ) to the employee co-founders and certain non-employee consultants in 2019. The shares of restricted common stock were issued pursuant to standalone restricted stock purchase agreements that are independent of the Plans. The shares of RSAs pursuant to standalone restricted stock purchase agreements carried a purchase price equivalent of $ 0.01 per share. As of December 31, 2023, no RSAs were outstanding and all RSAs were fully vested and converted into fully paid common stock. The following table summarizes restricted stock awards and restricted stock units for the year ended December 31, 2023: Number of Shares Weighted Average Non-vested and unsettled at January 1, 2023 3,015,387 $ 3.64 Granted 4,200,428 2.09 Replacement RSU Awards (1) 34,500 2.30 Forfeited ( 918,845 ) 3.12 Vested and settled ( 2,700,039 ) 2.91 Non-vested and unsettled at December 31, 2023 3,631,431 $ 2.51 (1) Represents Replacement RSU Awards issued to eligible Apexigen grantholders pursuant to the Merger Agreement. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company issued 2,476,301 shares of its common stock from the settlement of 2,700,039 restricted common stock, with the remaining shares withheld for taxes. The total fair value of restricted common stock that vested during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 was $ 8.0 million and $ 0.5 million, respectively. The Company has an aggregate $ 6.8 million of gross unrecognized restricted stock-based compensation expense as of December 31, 2023, remaining to be amortized over a weighted average period of 2.48 years. Summary of Stock-Based Compensation Expense The following tables summarize the total stock-based compensation expense for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively (in thousands): Year Ended December 31, 2023 2022 Stock options $ 10,635 $ 11,947 Restricted stock 6,311 3,817 Total $ 16,946 $ 15,764 Year Ended December 31, 2023 2022 General and administrative $ 12,537 $ 10,548 Research and development 4,409 5,216 Total $ 16,946 $ 15,764 Total stock-based compensation expense for stock options includes expense related to the 2021 ESPP of less than $ 0.1 million and $ 0 for the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively. |