Stockholders' Equity | 13. Stockholders’ Equity Long-term Incentive Plan In conjunction with its IPO, on November 23, 2021, the Company adopted the Employee Stock Purchase Plan, the 2021 Incentive Award Plan (the “Long-Term Incentive Plan” or the “LTIP”) and the Non-Employee Directors Stock and Deferred Compensation Plan (collectively, the “Plans”) and has reserved 2,802,273 shares, collectively, for issuance or sale under the Plans. The Board approved an amendment to the LTIP to increase the shares authorized to be issued by 1,500,000, and the evergreen set forth in the LTIP resulted in an increase of 277,552 shares. The Company’s Compensation Committee has the authority under the LTIP to grant stock options; stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance stock, performance units, and other forms of equity-based or equity-related awards. Compensation cost is generally recorded on a straight-line basis over the vesting term of the shares based on the grant date value using the closing trading price. Stock-based compensation expenses were $1,502,724 and $708,540 for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and $3,404,431 and $1,379,378 for the six months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively. During the three months ended June 30, 2023, the Company granted 500,000 restricted stock units to members of management and none to members of the Board under the LTIP. During the six months ended June 30, 2023, the Company granted 1,232,090 restricted stock units to members of management and 742,000 restricted stock units to members of the Board under the LTIP. The total number of restricted stock units issued at June 30, 2023 was 3,425,537. Unrecognized compensation expense related to restricted stock awards made by the Company was $10,957,851 at June 30, 2023. As of June 30, 2023, the Company had 2,530,859 shares available for issuance under the 2021 Plan. Number of RSUs Weighted Average Grant-Date Fair Value Balance at December 31, 2022 1,451,448 $ 5.67 Awarded Legacy AeroClean 1,974,090 $ 2.78 Awarded Molekule Merger 2,964,241 $ 3.40 Forfeited/Vested (901,764) $ 3.40 Balance at June 30, 2023 5,488,015 $ 3.73 Private Placements On June 29, 2022, the Company completed a private placement in connection with a securities purchase agreement dated June 26, 2022 (the “2022 Private Placement”). In the 2022 Private Placement, the Company received gross cash proceeds of $15,000,000 in connection with the issuance of (i) 1,500,000 shares of common stock and (ii) a warrant to purchase up to 1,500,000 shares of common stock, as amended (the “2022 Warrant”). The Warrant had an exercise price of $11.00 per share, which amount was adjusted to $2.00 per share in connection with the 2023 Private Placement (as defined, and further described below) and is exercisable until July 21, 2027. Net proceeds amounted to $13,578,551 after issuance costs of $1,421,449. As the 2022 Warrant was liability classified, the gross proceeds and issuance costs were allocated to the 2022 Warrant liability based on its fair value with the residual being allocated to the common stock, resulting in the allocation of gross proceeds of $13,995,000 and $1,005,000 to the 2022 Warrant liability and common stock, respectively, and issuance costs of $1,326,212 and $95,237 were charged to expense and additional paid in capital, respectively. In conjunction with the 2022 Private Placement, the Company entered into a registration rights agreement whereby the Company was required to register for resale and maintain the effectiveness of the registration statement that registers the resale of shares of common stock held by the selling stockholder and the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the 2022 Warrant. Pursuant to the registration rights agreement, the Company is liable for certain liquidated damages upon failure to comply with such registration rights. On January 27, 2023, the Company’s registration statement on Form S-3 relating to the resale of 3,000,000 shares of common stock by the selling stockholder listed in the prospectus (including 1,500,000 shares of common stock issued in the 2022 Private Placement and 1,500,000 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the outstanding 2022 Warrant acquired in the 2022 Private Placement) was declared effective by the SEC. The Company will not receive any proceeds in connection with the sale of common stock by the selling stockholder but will receive the exercise price of the 2022 Warrant to the extent the 2022 Warrant is exercised by the selling stockholder. On May 3, 2023, the Company entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement with the Selling Stockholder, pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell (i) 3,400,000 Shares, (ii) 3,125,000 shares of common stock that are issuable upon the exercise of the Series A Warrant, (iii) 6,250,000 shares of common stock that are issuable upon the exercise of the Series B Warrant and (iv) 2,850,000 shares of common stock that are issuable upon the exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $9,971,500 (the “ 2023 Private Placement”). The Securities Purchase Agreement contains customary representations, warranties and agreements by the Company. The closing of the 2023 Private Placement occurred on May 5, 2023. The Company also agreed to reduce the exercise price of the 2022 Warrant owned by the Selling Stockholder to $2.00 per share of common stock. The Series A Warrant has an exercise price of $1.60 per share of common stock, the Series B Warrant has an exercise price of $1.84 per share of common stock, and the Pre-Funded Warrant has an exercise price of $0.01 per share of common stock. The Series A Warrant, the Series B Warrant and the Pre-Funded Warrant are all exercisable as of June 30, 2023. The Series A Warrant will terminate on February 23, 2024. The Series B Warrant and the Pre-Funded Warrant will terminate on June 23, 2028. As of June 30, 2023, the Selling Stockholder beneficially owns approximately 9.9% of the outstanding shares of common stock of the Company. Each of the Series A Warrant, the Series B Warrant and the Pre-Funded Warrant, contain an ownership limitation providing that the Selling Stockholder may not exercise the Series A Warrant, the Series B Warrant or the Pre-Funded Warrant with respect to any shares of common stock that would result in the Selling Stockholder beneficially owning more than 4.99% of the outstanding shares of common stock. The Selling Stockholder may increase or decrease this limitation upon notice to us, but in no event will any such limitation exceed 9.99%. In connection with the 2023 Private Placement, the Company entered into a Registration Rights Agreement with the Selling Stockholder. Pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement, the Company was required to file and maintain a resale registration statement with the SEC in order to register the shares sold to the Selling Stockholder and the shares underlying the Warrants. The Company will be obligated to pay certain liquidated damages to the Selling Stockholder if it fails to maintain the effectiveness of the registration statement pursuant to the terms of the Registration Rights Agreement. In accordance with the requirements of the Registration Rights Agreement, the Company filed a resale registration statement on Form S-3 covering the shares acquired by the Selling Shareholder and the shares issuable upon the conversion of the Series A Warrant, the Series B Warrant and the Pre-Funded Warrant. The Form S-3 was declared effective by the SEC on June 26, 2023. |