DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION, BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND GOING CONCERN | NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION, BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND GOING CONCERN Healthwell Acquisition Corp. I (the “Company”) is a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on February 2, 2021. The Company was formed for the purpose of effectuating a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies. In connection with the business combination agreement (as described below) the Company created HWEL Holdings Corp., a newly formed wholly -owned -owned -owned -owned As of June 30, 2023, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from February 2, 2021 (inception) through June 30, 2023 relates to the Company’s formation, its initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering”) as described below, and since the closing of the Initial Public Offering, its search for a prospective initial Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates non -operating The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on August 2, 2021. On August 5, 2021, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 25,000,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the shares of Class A common stock included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000 (see Note 3). Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of 7,700,000 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement (the “Private Placement”) to Healthwell Acquisition Corp. I Sponsor LLC (the “Sponsor”), generating gross proceeds of $7,700,000 (see Note 4). Transaction costs for the Initial Public Offering amounted to $21,720,139, consisting of $5,000,000 of underwriting fees, half of the $8,750,000 of deferred underwriting fees (the other $4,375,000 will be payable up to two years after the close of the Business combination), $7,207,313 of non -cash Following the closing of the Initial Public Offering on August 5, 2021, an amount of $250,000,000 ($10.00 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (“Continental”) acting as trustee, and invested in U.S. government securities within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with maturities of 185 days or less, or in any open -ended -7 -month The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. The Company must complete a Business Combination with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the Trust Account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on income earned on the Trust Account) at the time of the agreement to enter into an initial Business Combination. The Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post -transaction The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding Public Shares (the “public stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require the Company to seek stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. The public stockholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially $10.00 per Public Share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations). There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of a Business Combination with respect to the Company’s warrants. The Public Shares subject to redemption are recorded at redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity A quorum for a meeting to approve an initial Business Combination will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the Company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the Company entitled to vote at such meeting. In such case, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with the Company, the initial stockholders have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote their Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5) and any Public Shares held by them in favor of an initial Business Combination. The Company expects that at the time of any stockholder vote relating to an initial Business Combination, the initial stockholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of the issued and outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon. The directors and officers also have agreed to vote in favor of an initial Business Combination with respect to any Public Shares acquired by them. These voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of the initial stockholders, may make it more likely that the Company will consummate a Business Combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. Notwithstanding the above, if the Company seeks stockholder approval of a Business Combination and it does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation”) provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% or more of the Public Shares, without the prior consent of the Company. The Sponsor has agreed to waive: (i) its redemption rights with respect to any Founder Shares and Public Shares held by them, as applicable, in connection with the completion of an initial Business Combination; (ii) its redemption rights with respect to any Founder Shares and Public Shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to amend the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of the obligation to allow redemption in connection with an initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the Public Shares if the Company do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre -initial The Company will have until December 5, 2023, extended from August 5, 2023, to complete a Business Combination (the “Combination Period”), subject to making monthly stock transfers to the Holders (as defined in Note 11) of 155,581 Class A shares, which will begin payment on September 5, 2023. The Monthly Shares (as defined in Note 11) will be issued to the Holders substantially concurrently with the closing of the Company’s Business Combination. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per -share The Sponsor has agreed to waive its liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the Sponsor acquires Public Shares, such Public Shares will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission (see Note 6) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than the independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below (1) $10.00 per Public Share or (2) such lesser amount per Public Share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay the taxes except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account and except as to any claims under the indemnity of the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third -party Proposed Starton Therapeutics Business Combination On April 27, 2023, the Company entered into the business combination agreement (as amended, the “BCA”) with Starton Therapeutics, Inc. (“Starton”); Pubco; Purchaser Merger Sub; CallCo; ExchangeCo; the Sponsor, as the representative from and after the Effective Time (as defined in the BCA) of the stockholders of Pubco (other than the Starton Shareholders (as defined below) and their successors and assignees); and Kiriakos Charlie Perperidis, in the capacity as the representative of the shareholders of Starton (the “Starton Shareholders”) from and after the Effective Time (all of the transactions contemplated by the BCA, including the issuances of securities thereunder, the “Starton Business Combination”). The BCA was amended by the First Amendment to the Business Combination Agreement, dated May 15, 2023 (the “First BCA Amendment”) pursuant to which the Parties agreed to amend Section 9.1 of the Business Combination Agreement to add a new closing condition which requires that, immediately after the Closing, and after giving effect to the Redemption, the Starton Shareholders will own a number of voting shares of Pubco representing, in the aggregate, no less than 51% of the total voting power of all issued and outstanding shares of Pubco. The BCA was further amended by the Second Amendment to the Business Combination Agreement, dated August The BCA was further amended by the Third Amendment to the Business Combination Agreement, dated September Pursuant to the BCA, subject to the terms and conditions set forth therein, Purchaser Merger Sub will merge with and into the Company, with the Company continuing as the surviving entity and wholly -owned -for-one -owned Each outstanding Starton option will be assumed by Pubco and automatically converted into an option to purchase shares of Pubco Common Stock in accordance with the Plan of Arrangement and under an equity incentive plan to be adopted by Pubco prior to the closing of the Starton Business Combination (the “Closing”). Pursuant to the terms of the BCA, the aggregate base consideration to be delivered to the Starton Shareholders in connection with the Starton Business Combination will be $260.0 million (including up to $20.0 million of incentive shares provided to potential PIPE investors), subject to adjustments for Starton’s closing debt (net of cash) and certain other adjustments, which consideration will be payable in newly -issued In addition to the shares of Pubco Common Stock or Exchangeable Shares deliverable at the Closing, the Starton Shareholders will have the contingent right to receive up to an additional shares 25,000,000 shares of Pubco Common Stock or Exchangeable Shares, as earnout consideration after the Closing (the “Earnout Consideration” and such shares the “Earnout Shares”). The Earnout Consideration will be issuable to the Starton Shareholders (as of the date of the Closing) as follows: • -third -year • -third -of-Phase-1 • -third -equivalence Simultaneously with the execution and delivery of the BCA, the Company and Starton entered into voting agreements (collectively, the “Voting Agreements”) with certain Starton Shareholders required to approve the Starton Business Combination. Under the Voting Agreements, such Starton Shareholders agreed to vote all of their Starton Shares in favor of the BCA and the related transactions. Such Starton Shareholders also agreed to take certain other actions in support of the BCA and related transactions and refrain from taking actions that would adversely affect their ability to perform their obligations under the Voting Agreements. Such Starton Shareholders also provided a proxy to the Company to vote their Starton Shares in accordance with the foregoing. The Voting Agreements prevent transfers of the Starton Shares held by such Starton Shareholders between the date of the Voting Agreement and the date of Closing, except for certain permitted transfers where the recipient also agrees to comply with the Voting Agreement. Simultaneously with the execution of the BCA, the Company, Pubco, Starton and the Sponsor also entered into a sponsor support agreement (the “Sponsor Support Agreement”), pursuant to which the Sponsor agreed to vote all of its shares of the Company’s common stock in favor of the BCA and the Starton Business Combination. The Sponsor also agreed to waive its anti -dilution The BCA and related agreements and the First BCA Amendment are further described in our Current Reports on Form 8 -K -4 Going Concern and Liquidity As of June 30, 2023, the Company had $46,925 in cash held outside of the Trust Account and a working capital deficit of $1,459,851 (excluding income tax payable and franchise tax payable). The Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of its acquisition plans. The Company anticipates that the cash held outside of the Trust Account as of June 30, 2023, will not be sufficient to allow the Company to operate until December 5, 2023, the date at which the Company must complete a Business Combination. Further, if a Business Combination is not consummated by December 5, 2023, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of time within one year after the date that these condensed consolidated financial statements are issued. Management plans to address this uncertainty through a Business Combination as discussed above. There is no assurance that the Company’s plans to consummate a Business Combination will be successful or successful within the Combination Period. The condensed consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. Risks and Uncertainties In February 2022, the Russian Federation and Belarus commenced a military action with the country of Ukraine. As a result of this action, various nations, including the United States, have instituted economic sanctions against the Russian Federation and Belarus. As a result of this action and related economic sanctions, the Company’s ability to consummate a Business Combination, or the operations of a target business with which the Company ultimately consummates a Business Combination, may be materially and adversely affected. In addition, the Company’s ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by these events, including as a result of increased market volatility, or decreased market liquidity in third -party Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and Excise Tax On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IR Act”) was signed into federal law, which, among other things, imposes a 1% excise tax on the fair market value of stock repurchased by a domestic corporation beginning in 2023, with certain exceptions (the “Excise Tax”). Because the Company is a Delaware corporation, it will be a “covered corporation” within the meaning of the IR Act, and while not free from doubt, it is possible that, unless an exemption is available, the Company (or any post -combination -share | NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION, BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND GOING CONCERN Healthwell Acquisition Corp. I (the “Company”) is a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on February 2, 2021. The Company was formed for the purpose of effectuating a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies. As of December 31, 2022, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the year ended December 31, 2022 relates to the Company’s formation, its initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering”) as described below, and since the closing of the Initial Public Offering, its search for a prospective initial Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates non -operating The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on August 2, 2021. On August 5, 2021, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 25,000,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the shares of Class A common stock included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000 (see Note 3). Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of 7,700,000 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to Healthwell Acquisition Corp. I Sponsor LLC (the “Sponsor”), generating gross proceeds of $7,700,000 (see Note 4). Transaction costs amounted to $21,720,139, consisting of $5,000,000 of underwriting fees, $8,750,000 of deferred underwriting fees, $7,207,313 of non -cash Following the closing of the Initial Public Offering on August 5, 2021, an amount of $250,000,000 ($10.00 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) and invested in U.S. government securities within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with maturities of 185 days or less, or in any open -ended -7 The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. The Company must complete a Business Combination with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the Trust Account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on income earned on the Trust Account) at the time of the agreement to enter into an initial Business Combination. The Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post -transaction The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding Public Shares (the “public stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require the Company to seek stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. The public stockholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially $10.00 per Public Share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations). There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of a Business Combination with respect to the Company’s warrants. The Public Shares subject to redemption are recorded at redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity The Company will proceed with a Business Combination only if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 either prior to or upon such consummation of a Business Combination Notwithstanding the above, if the Company seeks stockholder approval of a Business Combination and it does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation”) provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% or more of the Public Shares, without the prior consent of the Company. The Sponsor has agreed to waive: (i) its redemption rights with respect to any Founder Shares and Public Shares held by them, as applicable, in connection with the completion of an initial Business Combination; (ii) its redemption rights with respect to any Founder Shares and Public Shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to amend the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of the obligation to allow redemption in connection with an initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the Public Shares if the Company do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre -initial The Company will have until August 5, 2023 to complete a Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per -share The Sponsor has agreed to waive its liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the Sponsor acquires Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, such Public Shares will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission (see Note 6) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than the independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below (1) $10.00 per Public Share or (2) such lesser amount per Public Share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay the taxes except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account and except as to any claims under the indemnity of the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third -party Going Concern and Liquidity As of December 31, 2022, the Company had $137,752 in cash held outside of the Trust Account and a working capital deficit of $460,328. The Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of its acquisition plans. The Company anticipates that the cash held outside of the Trust Account as of December 31, 2022, will not be sufficient to allow the Company to operate until August 5, 2023, the date at which the Company must complete a Business Combination. While the Company expects to have sufficient access to additional sources of capital under Working Capital Loans (as defined in Note 5), or from third parties, there is no current commitment on the part of any financing source to provide additional capital and no assurances can be provided that such additional capital will ultimately be available if necessary. Further, if a Business Combination is not consummated by August 5, 2023, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of time within one year after the date that these financial statements are issued. Management plans to address this uncertainty through a Business Combination as discussed above. There is no assurance that the Company’s plans to consummate a Business Combination will be successful within the Combination Period. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. Risks and Uncertainties Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID -19 In February 2022, the Russian Federation and Belarus commenced a military action with the country of Ukraine. As a result of this action, various nations, including the United States, have instituted economic sanctions against the Russian Federation and Belarus. As a result of this action and related economic sanctions, the Company’s ability to consummate a Business Combination, or the operations of a target business with which the Company ultimately consummates a Business Combination, may be materially and adversely affected. In addition, the Company’s ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by these events, including as a result of increased market volatility, or decreased market liquidity in third -party Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and Excise Tax On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IR Act”) was signed into federal law, which, among other things, imposes a 1% excise tax on the fair market value of stock repurchased by a domestic corporation beginning in 2023, with certain exceptions (the “Excise Tax”). Because the Company is a Delaware corporation, it will be a “covered corporation” within the meaning of the IR Act, and while not free from doubt, it is possible that, unless an exemption is available, the Company (or any post -combination -share |