Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4)

Registration No. 333-265641

Registration No. 333-265941

AKERNA CORP.

29,382,861 Units, Each Unit Consisting of One Share of Common Stock and One Warrant to Purchase One Share of Common Stock

14,095,400 Pre-funded Units, Each Pre-funded Unit Consisting of One Pre-funded Warrant to Purchase One Share of Common Stock and One Warrant to Purchase One Share of Common Stock

Shares of Common Stock Underlying the Warrants

Shares of Common Stock Underlying the Pre-Funded Warrants

We are offering 29,382,861 units, each unit consisting of one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock. The offering price of the units is $0.23 per unit. The warrants included in the units have an exercise price of $0.23 per share (100% of the unit offering price), will be immediately exercisable and expire on the five year anniversary of the issuance.

We are also offering to those purchasers, if any, whose purchase of units in this offering would otherwise result in such purchaser, together with its affiliates and certain related parties, beneficially owning more than 4.99% (or, at the election of the purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding shares of common stock immediately following the consummation of this offering, the opportunity to purchase, if any such purchaser so chooses, pre-funded units in lieu of units that would otherwise result in such purchaser’s beneficial ownership exceeding 4.99% (or, at the election of the purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding shares of common stock. Each pre-funded unit consists of one pre-funded warrant to purchase one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock. The purchase price of each pre-funded unit will be equal to the price per unit being sold to the public in this offering, minus $0.0001, or $0.2299 per pre-funded unit, and the exercise price of each pre-funded warrant included in the pre-funded units will be $0.0001 per share. The pre-funded warrants included in the pre-funded units will be immediately exercisable and may be exercised at any time until all of the pre-funded warrants are exercised in full. The warrant included in the pre-funded unit is in the same form as the warrant included in the unit.

The units and the pre-funded units will not be issued or certificated. The shares of common stock or pre-funded warrants, as the case may be, and the accompanying warrants can only be purchased together in this offering, but the securities contained in the units or pre-funded units will be immediately separable upon issuance and will be issued separately. The shares of common stock issuable from time to time upon exercise of the warrants and the pre-funded warrants are also being offered by this prospectus. The registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part also registers the common stock purchase warrants to be issued to the underwriter and the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise thereof.

Our common stock is currently listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “KERN.” The last reported sale price of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market on June 28, 2022 was $0.305. There is no established public trading market for the warrants or the pre-funded warrants, and we do not expect such a market to develop. In addition, we do not intend to apply for a listing of the warrants or the pre-funded warrants on any national securities exchange or other nationally recognized trading system.

We are a “smaller reporting company” and an “emerging growth company” as defined under the federal securities laws and, as such, we may continue to elect to comply with certain reduced public company reporting requirements in future reports.

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 6 of this prospectus.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The offering is being underwritten on a firm commitment basis. We have granted the underwriter a 45-day option from the date of this prospectus to purchase from us (i) additional shares of our common stock and/or (ii) warrants to purchase additional shares of our common stock and/or (iii) pre-funded warrants to purchase additional shares of our common stock, in any combination thereof, up to, and not to exceed, 13,043,478 shares of common stock or shares of common stock underlying pre-funded warrants or warrants, in the aggregate, solely to cover over-allotments, if any.

The underwriter expects to deliver our shares to purchasers in the offering on or about July 5, 2022.

A.G.P.

June 30, 2022

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

The registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part that we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, includes and incorporates by reference exhibits that provide more detail of the matters discussed in this prospectus. You should read this prospectus and the related exhibits filed with the SEC, together with the additional information described under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.”

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus and in any free writing prospectus prepared by or on behalf of us. We have not, and the underwriter has not, authorized anyone to provide you with information different from, or in addition to, that contained in this prospectus or any related free writing prospectus. This prospectus is an offer to sell only the securities offered hereby but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus is current only as of its date. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

We are not offering to sell or seeking offers to purchase these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. We have not done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus and any free writing prospectus related to this offering in jurisdictions outside the United States are required to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus and any such free writing prospectus applicable to that jurisdiction.

Unless otherwise indicated, any reference to Akerna, or as “we”, “us”, or “our” refers to Akerna Corp. and its consolidated subsidiaries (“Akerna” or the “Company”). 

RISK FACTORS

An investment in our common stock involves a high degree of risk.  You should carefully consider the risks described below, together with all of the other information included in this prospectus, before making an investment decision with regard to our securities. The statements contained in this prospectus that are not historic facts are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in or implied by forward-looking statements. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operations could suffer.  In that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

You should carefully consider the following risk factors in evaluating our business and us. The factors listed below represent certain important factors that we believe could cause our business results to differ. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the general or specific risks that may affect us. It should be recognized that other risks may be significant, presently or in the future, and the risks set forth below may affect us to a greater extent than indicated. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Risks Relating to Our Financial Condition and Operating History

There is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

Our financial statement footnotes include disclosure regarding the substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Our financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of the uncertainty regarding our ability to continue as a going concern. This going concern opinion could materially limit our ability to raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or debt securities or otherwise. Further reports on our financial statements may include an explanatory paragraph with respect to our ability to continue as a going concern. Our ability to continue as a going concern is uncertain and dependent upon obtaining the financing necessary to meet our financial commitments and to continue our ongoing operations as currently planned. We do not have sufficient funds to meet planned expenditures over the next twelve months, and will need to seek additional debt or equity financing to meet our planned expenditures. We will require additional financing in the second quarter of 2022 to meet our ongoing operational working capital requirements and continue to meet the financial covenants of our convertible notes. We plan to meet those requirements in part through the use of our at-the-market facility, but there are no guarantees that the facility will permit us to raise sufficient cash to meet our ongoing requirements. These factors raise substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern. If we are unable to raise sufficient capital we may have to reduce operations which could significantly affect our results of operations. If we fail to meet the financial covenants of our debt and cannot obtain a waiver from such provisions or otherwise come to an agreement with the holders of our debt, such holders may declare a default on the debt which could subject our assets to seizure and sale, negatively impacting our business. See “Risks Relating to our Convertible Debt” below.

We have a history of losses, expect to continue to incur losses in the near term and may not achieve or sustain profitability in the future.

We have incurred significant losses in each fiscal year since our inception in 2010. For the quarter ended March 31, 2022, we had a net loss of approximately $22 million. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had a net loss of approximately $31.3 million. For the six months ended December 31, 2020 we had a net loss of approximately $16.2 million. For fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we had a net loss of approximately $14.4 million. These losses have been due to the substantial investments we have made to develop our monitoring and compliance platforms and related software, market these products to government regulatory agencies and commercial businesses and growing our infrastructure to support the increased business. We expect to continue to invest in the further development of our platforms, software, and related product offerings and to grow both our government regulatory and commercial business client base. As a result, we expect our operating expenses to increase in the future due to expected increased sales and marketing expenses, operational costs, product development costs, and general and administrative costs and, therefore, our operating losses will continue or even increase at least through the near term. In addition, because we are now a public company, we will incur significant legal, accounting, and other expenses that MJ Freeway, or MJF, did not incur as a non-public company. Furthermore, to the extent that we are successful in increasing our client base, we will also incur increased expenses because costs associated with generating and supporting client agreements are generally incurred upfront, while revenue is generally recognized ratably over the term of the agreement. You should not rely upon our recent revenue growth as indicative of future performance. We may not reach profitability in the near future or at any specific time in the future. If and when our operations do become profitable, we may not sustain profitability.

We have a relatively short operating history, which makes it difficult to evaluate our business and future prospects.

We have a relatively short operating history, which makes it difficult to evaluate our business and future prospects. Our wholly-owned subsidiary, MJF, has been in existence since 2010, and much of our revenue growth has occurred during the past three years. We have encountered, and will continue to encounter, risks and difficulties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries, including those related to:

If we do not manage these risks successfully, our business and financial performance will be adversely affected.

Our long-term results of operations are difficult to predict and depend on the commercial success of our clients, the continued growth of the cannabis industry generally, and the regulatory environment within which the cannabis industry operates.

Our offers of products and services globally to help government regulatory agencies and commercial businesses monitor regulatory compliance and operate efficiently and successfully in compliance with applicable state laws. Our long-term results will directly depend on the continued growth of the legalized cannabis industry (and public acceptance of cannabis-related products) and the ability of our current and future clients to successfully market their own products and services. If the legalized cannabis marketplace does not continue to grow because the public does not increasingly accept cannabis-related products or government regulators adopt laws, rules, or regulations that terminate or diminish the ability for commercial businesses to develop, market, and sell cannabis-related products, our business and financial performance would be materially adversely affected. Additionally, even if the cannabis marketplace continues to grow rapidly, and government regulation allows for the free-market development of this industry, products, and services competitive with those offered by us may enjoy better market acceptance.

The legalized cannabis industry may not continue to grow, and the regulatory environment may not remain favorable to participants in the industry. More generally, our products and services may not experience growing market acceptance, which would adversely impact our ability to grow revenue.

Direct and indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic may have material adverse consequences.

The current COVID-19 pandemic is creating extensive disruptions to the global economy. Governments, businesses, and the public are taking unprecedented actions to contain the spread of COVID-19 and to mitigate its effects, including quarantines, travel bans, shelter-in-place orders, closures of businesses, fiscal stimulus, and legislation designed to deliver monetary aid and other relief. While the scope, duration, and full effects of COVID-19 are rapidly evolving and not fully known, the pandemic and related efforts to contain it have disrupted global economic activity, adversely affected the functioning of financial markets, impacted interest rates, increased economic and market uncertainty, and disrupted trade and supply chains. If these effects continue for a prolonged period or result in sustained economic stress or recession, we may experience adverse effects on our operations. Specifically, if our clients are forced to reduce business hours or close their businesses for an extended period of time or if their customer base experiences financial hardship, our clients may experience a sharp decline in revenue and be unable to meet their obligations to us under existing agreements or be unwilling to extend their agreements past current terms, which may adversely impact our financial results. Further, we may experience a decrease in new clients due to a lack of financial resources or a decline in new markets as businesses and financial markets deal with the impact of COVID-19. As governments are focused on relief efforts and fiscal stimulus measures, important legislation to expand or clarify certain existing or new markets for our products may be postponed or abandoned, which may adversely impact our results. Further, these conditions may impact our ability to access financial markets to obtain the necessary funding to operate our business as currently contemplated, which may adversely affect our liquidity and working capital. To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this registration statement, such as those relating to our operations and financial condition. Due to the highly uncertain and dynamic nature of events relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not currently possible to estimate the impact of the pandemic on our business. However, these effects could have a material impact on our operations, and we will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely. Through December 31, 2021, we have experienced delays in our consulting projects and the corresponding delay in revenue recognition for such projects, which we believe could be the result of government shutdowns and other regulatory uncertainty surrounding COVID-19.

Risks Related to the Cannabis Industry

As a company whose clients operate in the cannabis industry, we face many unique and evolving risks.

We currently serve government and private clients with respect to their tracking, monitoring, and compliance needs as they operate in the growing cannabis industry. Any risks related to the cannabis industry that may adversely affect our clients and potential clients may, in turn, adversely affect demand for our products. Specific risks faced by companies operating in the cannabis industry include, but are not limited to, the following:

Marijuana remains illegal under United States federal law

Marijuana is a Schedule-I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”), and is illegal under federal law. It remains illegal under United States federal law to grow, cultivate, sell or possess marijuana for any purpose or to assist or conspire with those who do so. Additionally, 21 U.S.C. 856 a.1. states that it shall be unlawful to “knowingly open, lease, rent, use, or maintain any place, whether permanently or temporarily, for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing, or using any controlled substance.” Even in those states in which the use of marijuana has been authorized, its use remains a violation of federal law. Since federal law criminalizing the use of marijuana is not preempted by state laws that legalize its use, strict enforcement of federal law regarding marijuana would likely result in our clients’ inability to proceed with their operations, which would adversely affect demands for our products. 

Uncertainty of federal enforcement

On January 4, 2018, former Attorney General Sessions rescinded the previously issued memoranda (known as the Cole Memorandum) from the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) that had de-prioritized the enforcement of federal law against marijuana users and businesses that comply with state marijuana laws, adding uncertainty to the question of how the federal government will choose to enforce federal laws regarding marijuana. Former Attorney General Sessions issued a memorandum to all United States Attorneys in which the DOJ affirmatively rescinded the previous guidance as to marijuana enforcement, calling such guidance “unnecessary.” This one-page memorandum was vague in nature, stating that federal prosecutors should use established principles in setting their law enforcement priorities. Under previous administrations, the DOJ indicated that those users and suppliers of medical marijuana who complied with state laws, which required compliance with certain criteria, would not be prosecuted. On November 7, 2018, Jeff Sessions resigned from his position as Attorney General. The current Attorney General, Merrick Garland, has not indicated any change in enforcement priority for state-compliant marijuana businesses, however, substantial uncertainty regarding federal enforcement remains. Regardless, the federal government has always reserved the right to enforce federal law regarding the sale and disbursement of medical or recreational marijuana, even if state law sanctioned such sale and disbursement. Although the rescission of the Cole Memorandum does not necessarily indicate that marijuana industry prosecutions are now affirmatively a priority for the DOJ, there can be no assurance that the federal government will not enforce such laws in the future. As a result, it is now unclear if the DOJ will seek to enforce the CSA against those users and suppliers who comply with state marijuana laws.

In 2014, Congress passed a spending bill, (the “2015 Appropriations Bill”), containing a provision (the “Appropriations Rider”), blocking federal funds and resources allocated under the 2015 Appropriations Bill from being used to “prevent such States from implementing their own State medical marijuana law.” The Appropriations Rider provided a budgetary constraint on the federal government from interfering with the ability of states to administer their medical marijuana laws, although it did not codify federal protections for medical marijuana patients and producers. Moreover, despite the Appropriations Rider, the DOJ maintains that it can still prosecute violations of the federal marijuana ban and continue cases already in the courts. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and other courts have interpreted the language to mean that the DOL cannot prosecute medical marijuana operators complying strictly with state medical marijuana laws. Additionally, the Appropriations Rider must be re-enacted every year. The Appropriations Rider was renewed on December 20, 2019 through the signing of the fiscal year 2020 omnibus spending bill, effective through September 30, 2020, continued re-authorization of the Appropriations Rider cannot be guaranteed. Subsequently, the Appropriations Rider was extended through a series of stopgap spending bills on October 1, December 11, December 18, December 20 and December 22, 2020. On December 27, 2020 the Appropriations Rider was included in the fiscal year 2021 omnibus spending bill and will remain in effect through September 30, 2022. If the Appropriation Rider is not extended in the future, the risk of federal enforcement and override of state medical marijuana laws would increase.

Despite the rescission of the Cole Memorandum, the Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, has not rescinded the “FinCEN Memo” dated February 14, 2014, which de-prioritizes enforcement of the Bank Secrecy Act against financial institutions and marijuana-related businesses which utilize them. This memo appears to be a standalone document and is presumptively still in effect. At any time, however, the Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, could elect to rescind the FinCEN Memo. This would make it more difficult for us and our clients and potential clients to access the U.S. banking systems and conduct financial transactions, which would adversely affect our operations.

We could become subject to racketeering laws

While we do not grow, handle, process or sell cannabis or cannabis-derived products, our receipt of funds from clients that do conduct such operations in violation of federal law exposes us to risks related to federal racketeering laws. The Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) is a federal statute providing criminal penalties in addition to a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. Under RICO, it is unlawful for any person who has received income derived from a pattern of racketeering activity (which includes most felonious violations of the CSA), to use or invest any of that income in the acquisition of any interest, or the establishment or operation of, any enterprise which is engaged in interstate commerce. RICO also authorizes private parties whose properties or businesses are harmed by such patterns of racketeering activity to initiate a civil action against the individuals involved. Although RICO suits against the cannabis industry are rare, a few cannabis businesses have been subject to a civil RICO action. Any violation of RICO could result in significant fines, penalties, administrative sanctions, convictions or settlements arising from civil proceedings conducted by either the federal government or private citizens or criminal charges, including but not limited to, seizure of assets, disgorgement of profits, cessation of our business activities or divestiture. 

Banking regulations could limit access to banking services and expose us to risk

Our receipt of payments from clients engaged in state-legal cannabis operations could also subject us to the consequences of a variety of federal laws and regulations that involve money laundering, financial record keeping and proceeds of crime, including the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by Title III of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act) and any related or similar rules, regulations or guidelines, issued, administered or enforced by the federal government. Since we fund from activities that are illegal under the CSA, banks and other financial institutions providing services to us risk violation of federal anti-money laundering statutes (18 U.S.C. §§ 1956 and 1957), the unlicensed money-remitter statute (18 U.S.C. § 1960) and the Bank Secrecy Act, among other applicable federal statutes. Banks often refuse to provide banking services to businesses involved in the cannabis industry due to the present state of federal laws and regulations governing financial institutions. The inability to open bank accounts may make it difficult for us or our clients to operate and our client’s reliance on cash can result in a heightened risk of theft, which could harm their businesses and, in turn, harm our business. Additionally, some courts have denied marijuana-related businesses bankruptcy protection, thus, making it very difficult for lenders to recoup their investments, which may limit the willingness of banks to lend to our clients and to us. The lack of banking and financial services presents unique and significant challenges to businesses in the cannabis industry and we may experience similar difficulties in obtaining and maintaining regular banking and financial services because of the activities of our clients.

Dividends and distributions could be prevented if our receipt of payments from clients is deemed to be proceeds of crime

In the event that any of our operations, or any proceeds thereof, any dividends or distributions therefrom, or any profits or revenues accruing from such operations were found to be in violation of money laundering legislation or otherwise, such transactions may be viewed as proceeds of crime under one or more federal statutes or any other applicable legislation. This could restrict or otherwise jeopardize our ability to declare or pay dividends or effect other distributions. Furthermore, while there are no current intentions to declare or pay dividends in the foreseeable future, in the event that a determination was made that our proceeds from operations (or any future operations) could reasonably be shown to constitute proceeds of crime, we may decide or be required to suspend declaring or paying dividends without advance notice and for an indefinite period of time.

Further legislative development beneficial to our operations is not guaranteed

Among other things, our business involves the provision of an online platform that provides monitoring and tracking of those involved in the cultivation, distribution, manufacture, storage, transportation, and/or sale of medical and adult-use cannabis products in compliance with applicable state law. The success of our business depends on the continued development of the cannabis industry and the activity of commercial business and government regulatory agencies within the industry. The continued development of the cannabis industry is dependent upon continued legislative and regulatory authorization of cannabis at the state level and a continued laissez-faire approach by federal enforcement agencies. Any number of factors could slow or halt progress in this area. Further regulatory progress beneficial to the industry cannot be assured. While there may be ample public support for legislative action, numerous factors impact the legislative and regulatory process, including election results, scientific findings or general public events. Any one of these factors could slow or halt progressive legislation relating to cannabis and the current tolerance for the use of cannabis by consumers, which could adversely affect the demand for our product and operations.

The cannabis industry could face strong opposition from other industries

We believe that established businesses in other industries may have a strong economic interest in opposing the development of the cannabis industry. Cannabis may be seen by companies in other industries as an attractive alternative to their products, including recreational marijuana as an alternative to alcohol, and medical marijuana as an alternative to various commercial pharmaceuticals. Many industries that could view the emerging cannabis industry as an economic threat are well established, with vast economic and federal and state lobbying resources. It is possible that companies within these industries could use their resources to attempt to slow or reverse legislation legalizing cannabis. Any inroads these companies make in halting or impeding legislative initiatives that would be beneficial to the cannabis industry could have a detrimental impact on our clients and, in turn on our operations.

The legality of marijuana could be reversed in one or more states

The voters or legislatures of states in which marijuana has already been legalized could potentially repeal applicable laws that permit the operation of both medical and retail marijuana businesses. These actions might force businesses, including those that are our clients, to cease operations in one or more states entirely.

Changing legislation and evolving interpretations of the law

Laws and regulations affecting the medical and adult-use marijuana industry are constantly changing, which could detrimentally affect our clients and, in turn, our operations. Local, state, and federal marijuana laws and regulations are broad in scope and subject to evolving interpretations, which could require our clients and thus us to incur substantial costs associated with modification of operations to help ensure such clients’ compliance. In addition, violations of these laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt our clients’ business and result in a material adverse effect on our operations. In addition, it is possible that regulations may be enacted in the future that will limit the amount of cannabis growth or related products that our commercial clients are authorized to produce. We cannot predict the nature of any future laws, regulations, interpretations, or applications, nor can we determine what effect additional governmental regulations or administrative policies and procedures, when and if promulgated, could have on our operations.

Dependence on client licensing

Our business is dependent on our clients obtaining various licenses from various municipalities and state licensing agencies. There can be no assurance that any or all licenses necessary for our clients to operate their businesses will be obtained, retained or renewed. If a licensing body were to determine that a client of ours had violated applicable rules and regulations, there is a risk the license granted to that client could be revoked, which could adversely affect our operations. There can be no assurance that our existing clients will be able to retain their licenses going forward, or that new licenses will be granted to existing and new market entrants.

Insurance risks

In the U.S, many marijuana-related businesses are subject to a lack of adequate insurance coverage. In addition, many insurance companies may deny claims for any loss relating to marijuana or marijuana-related operations based on their illegality under federal law, noting that a contract for an illegal transaction is unenforceable.

Bankruptcy risks

Because cannabis is illegal under U.S. federal law, and bankruptcy is a strictly federal proceeding, many courts have denied cannabis businesses federal bankruptcy protections, thus making it very difficult for lenders to recoup their investments in the cannabis industry in the event of a bankruptcy. If we were to seek protection from creditors pursuant to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency laws, even though we are not directly engaged in manufacturing, distributing, selling or otherwise handling cannabis under state cannabis laws, there is no guarantee that U.S. federal bankruptcy protections would be available to our United States operations, which would have a material adverse effect on us, our lenders and other stakeholders. While state-level receivership options do exist in some states as an alternative to bankruptcy, the efficacy of these alternatives cannot be guaranteed.

The cannabis industry is an evolving industry and we must anticipate and respond to changes.

The cannabis industry is not yet well-developed, and many aspects of this industry’s development and evolution cannot be accurately predicted. While we have attempted to identify any risks specific to the cannabis industry, you should carefully consider that there are other risks that cannot be foreseen or are not described in this prospectus, which could materially and adversely affect our business and financial performance. We expect that the cannabis market and our business will evolve in ways that are difficult to predict. For example, it is anticipated that over time, we will reach a point in most markets where we have achieved a market penetration level in which new client acquisitions are less productive, and the continued growth of our revenue will require more focus on increasing the rate at which existing clients purchase products and services across our platforms. Our long-term success will depend on our ability to successfully adjust our strategy to meet the changing market dynamics. If we are unable to successfully adapt to changes in the cannabis industry, our operations could be adversely affected.

Risks related to Our Business

A significant portion of our business is and is expected to be, from government contracts, which present certain unique risks.

Contracts for Leaf Data Systems with government agencies in Pennsylvania, Washington, and Utah represented 16%, 25% and 39% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021, the six months ended December 31, 2020 and fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, respectively. In order to obtain a government contract for Leaf Data Systems, we are required to follow a competitive bidding process in each state where we seek a contract. Government contracts have very specific compliance requirements that often require contractors to invest material time and money to prepare a bid to ensure that our technology, processes, and staff meet these specific requirements. After expenditures of such time and money, there is no assurance that the bid will result in an award of a contract. Further, even if a contract is awarded, there are strict procedures that government agencies follow when it comes to reimbursement of the costs incurred in the course of fulfilling contracts. Accordingly, it is possible that some or all costs might not be reimbursed under a government contract as contemplated by us.

Government agencies also typically audit and investigate government contractors. These agencies review a contractor’s performance under its contracts, its cost structure, its business systems, and compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and standards. If an audit or investigation uncovers improper or illegal activities, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, including reductions of the value of contracts, contract modifications or terminations, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments, penalties, fines, and suspension, or prohibition from doing business with the government. In addition, we could suffer serious reputational harm if allegations of impropriety were made against us. Any such imposition of penalties, or the loss of such government contracts, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

There also is typically a longer window of liability under government contracts than private contracts, and the government can seek claims after the contract has ended and payments under the contract have been made. The terms of government contracts may also require the sharing of proprietary information, processes, software, and product development efforts with the government. Additionally, government employees are required to follow certain protocols to ensure there is no appearance of impropriety in the bidding process. As a result, bidders on government contracts must ensure that there is no appearance of favoritism, gift-giving, bribery, or the exertion of other influences in the bidding process. Any finding of the same can result in fines to the bidder and cancellation of contracts. The applicable state government generally has the ability to terminate our contract, in whole or in part, without prior notice, for convenience or for default based on performance. If a government contract were to be terminated for convenience, we generally would be protected by provisions covering reimbursement for costs incurred on the contract and profit on those costs, but not the anticipated profit that would have been earned had the contract been completed. The state government also has the ability to stop work under a contract for a limited period of time for its convenience.

We cannot assure you that we will be successful in navigating the government contract bidding process or that we will be able to maintain our existing government contracts or obtain additional government contracts in the future.

Our operations may be adversely affected by disruptions to our information technology, or IT, systems, including disruptions from cybersecurity breaches of our IT infrastructure.

We rely on information technology networks and systems, including those of third-party service providers, to process, transmit, and store electronic information. In particular, we depend on our information technology infrastructure for a variety of functions, including financial reporting, data management, project development, and email communications. Any of these systems may be susceptible to outages due to fire, floods, power loss, telecommunications failures, terrorist attacks, sabotage, and similar events. Global cybersecurity threats and incidents can range from uncoordinated individual attempts to gain unauthorized access to our information technology systems to sophisticated and targeted measures known as advanced persistent threats. The ever-increasing use and evolution of technology, including cloud-based computing, create opportunities for the unintentional dissemination or intentional destruction of confidential information stored in our systems or in non-encrypted portable media or storage devices. We could also experience a business interruption, information theft of confidential information, or reputational damage from industrial espionage attacks, malware, or other cyber-attacks, which may compromise our system infrastructure or lead to data leakage, either internally or at our third-party providers. Despite the implementation of network security measures and disaster recovery plans, our systems and those of third parties on which we rely may also be vulnerable to computer viruses, break-ins, and similar disruptions. If we or our vendors are unable (or are perceived as unable) to prevent such outages and breaches, our operations may be disrupted, and our business reputation could be adversely affected.

We expect that risks and exposures related to cybersecurity attacks will remain high for the foreseeable future due to the rapidly evolving nature and sophistication of these threats.

Privacy regulation is an evolving area and compliance with applicable privacy regulations may increase our operating costs or adversely impact our ability to service our clients and market our products and services.

Because we store, processes, and use data, some of which contains personal information, we are subject to complex and evolving federal, state, and foreign laws and regulations (including Canada’s Cannabis Act and related regulations and the European Union’s general data protection regulation, or GDPR) regarding privacy, data protection, and other matters. While we believe we are currently in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in investigations, claims, changes to our business practices, increased cost of operations, and declines in user growth, retention, or engagement, any of which could seriously harm our business.

We rely on third parties for certain services made available to users of our platforms, which could limit our control over the quality of the user experience and our cost of providing services.

Some of the applications and services available through the Leaf Data System and MJ Platform are provided through relationships with third-party service providers. We do not typically have any direct control over these third-party service providers. These third-party service providers could experience service outages, data loss, privacy breaches, including cyber-attacks, and other events relating to the applications and services they provide that could diminish the utility of these services and which could harm users thereof. The MJ Platform itself does not depend on any third-party software or applications and is based entirely on open source technologies and custom programming. The MJ Platform, however, is hosted by Amazon Web Services, a third-party service provider. There are readily available alternative hosting services available should we desire or need to move to a different web host. Certain ancillary services provided by us also uses the services of third-party providers, for which, we believe, there are readily available alternatives on comparable economic terms. Offering integrated platforms, such as the Leaf Data System and MJ Platform which rely, in part, on the services of other providers lessens the control that we have over the total client experience. Should the third-party service providers we rely upon not deliver at standards we expect and desires, acceptance of our platforms could suffer, which would have an adverse effect on our business and financial performance. Further, we cannot be assured of entering into agreements with such third-party service providers on economically favorable terms.

Acquisitions and integration issues may expose us to risks.

Our business strategy includes making targeted acquisitions. Any acquisition that we make may be of significant size, may change the scale of our business and operations, and may expose us to new geographic, political, operating, financial, and geological risks. Our success in our acquisition activities depends on our ability to identify suitable acquisition candidates, negotiate acceptable terms for any such acquisition, and integrate the acquired operations successfully with our own. Any acquisitions would be accompanied by risks. For example, there may be significant changes in our market value after we have committed to complete the transaction and have established the purchase price or exchange ratio; a potential targeted acquisition’s business and prospects may prove to be below expectations; we may have difficulty integrating and assimilating the operations and personnel of any acquired companies, realizing anticipated synergies and maximizing the financial and strategic position of the combined enterprise and maintaining uniform standards, policies, and controls across the organization; the integration of the acquired business or assets may disrupt our ongoing business and our relationships with employees, clients, suppliers, and contractors; and the acquired business or assets may have unknown liabilities that may be significant. If we choose to use equity securities as consideration for such an acquisition, existing shareholders may suffer dilution. Alternatively, we may choose to finance any such acquisition with our existing resources. There can be no assurance that we would be successful in overcoming these risks or any other problems encountered in connection with such acquisitions. To grow and be successful, we need to attract and retain qualified personnel.

In any future acquisitions, we may not be able to successfully integrate acquired personnel, operations, and technologies, or effectively manage the combined business following the acquisition. We also may not achieve the anticipated benefits from future acquisitions due to a number of factors, including: (a) an inability to integrate or benefit from acquisitions in a profitable manner; (b) unanticipated costs or liabilities associated with the acquisition; (c) the incurrence of acquisition-related costs; (d) the diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns; (e) the loss of our or the acquired business’ key employees; or (f) the issuance of dilutive equity securities, the incurrence of debt, or the use of cash to fund such acquisitions.

To grow and be successful, we need to attract and retain qualified personnel.

Our growth and success will depend to a significant extent on our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, and retain qualified professional, creative, technical, and managerial personnel. Competition for experienced and qualified talent in the cannabis industry can be intense. We may not be successful in identifying, attracting, hiring, training, and retaining such personnel in the future. If we are unable to hire, assimilate, and retain qualified personnel in the future, such inability could adversely affect our operations.

We are smaller and less diversified than many of our potential competitors.

While we believe we are a leading provider in the software solutions segment of the cannabis industry, there are general software design and integrated business platform companies seeking to provide online and software-based business solutions and operations integration to clients in numerous industries. The continued growth of the cannabis industry will likely attract some of these existing companies and incentivize them to produce solutions that are competitive with those offered by us. Many of these potential competitors are a part of large diversified corporate groups with a variety of other operations and expansive resources. We may not be able to successfully compete with larger enterprises devoting significant resources to compete in our target market space, which may negatively affect operations.

Our business and stock price may suffer as a result of our limited public company operating experience and if securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about us, our business, or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our common stock in an adverse manner, the price and trading volume of our common stock could decline.

If we are unable to execute our business strategy, either as a result of our inability to manage effectively our business in a public company environment or for any other reason, our business, prospects, financial condition, and operating results may be harmed.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, our market, or our competitors. We currently have limited coverage by securities and industry analysts. If no additional securities or industry analysts commence coverage of us, our stock price and trading volume would likely be negatively impacted. If any of the analysts who cover, or who may cover us in the future, change their recommendation regarding our stock in an adverse manner, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the price of our common stock would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

Risks related to Intellectual Property

Protecting and defending against intellectual property claims may have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our ability to compete depends, in part, upon successful protection of our intellectual property relating to our Leaf Data Systems and MJ Platform, and intellectual property acquired in business combinations, such as Solo, Trellis, Ample, Viridian and 365 Cannabis. We seek to protect our proprietary and intellectual property rights through patent applications, available copyright and trademark laws, nondisclosure agreements, and licensing and distribution arrangements with reputable companies in our target markets. While patent protection for inventions related to cannabis and cannabis-related products is available, there are substantial difficulties faced in the patent process by cannabis-related businesses. Further, patent applications may be rejected for numerous other reasons beyond those related to the cannabis industry, including that the subject matter of the application is found to be non-patentable. Our previous patent applications were denied and while we are continuing to pursue such applications and believe they are with merit, there can be no assurance that patents will be issued on these applications. The failure to be awarded patents on our technology could weaken our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights. Any such enforcement, whether we have been granted patent protection or not, would be costly, and there can be no assurance that we will have the resources to undertake all necessary action to protect our intellectual property rights or that we will be successful. Any infringement of our material intellectual property rights could require us to redirect resources to actions necessary to protect the same and could distract management from our underlying business operations. The infringement of our material intellectual property rights and resulting actions could adversely affect our operations.

Our success depends in part upon our ability to protect our core technology and intellectual property.

Our success depends in part upon our ability to protect our core technology and intellectual property. To establish and protect our proprietary rights, we rely on a combination of patent applications, trade secrets, including know-how, license agreements, confidentiality procedures, non-disclosure agreements with third parties, employee disclosure and invention assignment agreements, and other contractual rights. 

We generally control access to and use of our proprietary technology and other confidential information through the use of internal and external controls, including contractual protections with employees, contractors, clients, and partners, and our software is protected by the U.S. and international copyright laws.

Despite efforts to protect our trade secrets and proprietary rights through intellectual property rights, licenses, and confidentiality agreements, unauthorized parties may still copy or otherwise obtain and use our software and technology, as was the case when our source code was compromised in June 2017. We have taken significant actions to improve security but will be required to regularly modify our systems to combat new hacking approaches as they develop. In addition, as our international operations expand, effective intellectual property protection may not be available or may be limited in foreign countries.

Others may assert intellectual property infringement claims against us.

Companies in the software and technology industries own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets, and frequently enter into litigation based on allegations of infringement, misappropriation, or other violations of intellectual property or other rights. In addition, various “non-practicing entities” that own patents and other intellectual property rights often attempt to aggressively assert their rights in order to extract value from technology companies. It is possible that others may claim from time to time that our products misappropriate or infringe the intellectual property rights of third parties. Irrespective of the validity or the successful assertion of any such claims, we could incur significant costs and diversion of resources in defending against these claims, which could adversely affect our operations. We may receive unfavorable preliminary or interim rulings in the course of litigation, and there can be no assurances that favorable final outcomes will be obtained in all cases. We may decide to settle such lawsuits and disputes on terms that are unfavorable to us. As a result, we may also be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology or practices or discontinue the practices. The development of alternative non-infringing technology or practices could require significant effort and expense or may not be feasible.  

Risks related to Our Charter Documents

Anti-takeover provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, could impair a takeover attempt and limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our common stock and could entrench management.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.

These provisions:

In addition, we are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which may prohibit certain business combinations with stockholders owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock. These and other provisions in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, our bylaws, and Delaware law could make it more difficult for stockholders or potential acquirers to obtain control of our Board of Directors or initiate actions that are opposed by our then-current Board of Directors, including to delay or impede a merger, tender offer or proxy contest involving us. Any delay or prevention of a change in control transaction or changes in our Board of Directors could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

Our corporate opportunity provisions in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation could enable management to benefit from corporate opportunities that might otherwise be available to us.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that the doctrine of corporate opportunity, or any other analogous doctrine, shall not apply with respect to us, or any of our directors or officers in circumstances where the application of such doctrine would conflict with any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations they may otherwise have.

Our management may become aware, from time to time, of certain business opportunities (such as acquisition opportunities) and may direct such opportunities to other businesses in which they have invested, in which case we may not become aware of or otherwise have the ability to pursue such opportunity. Further, such businesses may choose to compete with us for these opportunities, possibly causing these opportunities to not be available to us or causing them to be more expensive for us to pursue. These potential conflicts of interest could adversely impact our business or prospects if attractive business opportunities are procured by such parties for their own benefit rather than for ours.

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

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against directors, officers, and employees for breach of fiduciary duty, actions under the Delaware general corporation law or under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or actions asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. This choice of forum provision does not preclude or contract the scope of exclusive federal or concurrent jurisdiction for any actions brought under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. Accordingly, our exclusive forum provision will not relieve us of our duties to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder, and our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with these laws, rules and regulations.

Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. This choice of forum provision does not exclude stockholders from suing in federal court for claims under the federal securities laws but may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring such claims in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims.

Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Risks Relating to our Convertible Debt

The issuance of shares of our common stock pursuant to our Senior Convertible Notes may result in significant dilution to our stockholders.

The conversion of our outstanding Senior Convertible Notes, issued on October 5, 2021, could result in the issuance of a significant number of shares of our common stock. The original $20 million principal amount of Senior Convertible Notes is convertible at a price of $4.05 per share, which would result in the issuance of 4,938,272 shares of our common stock upon the conversion of the Senior Convertible Notes in full. At the option of Akerna, assuming all equity conditions under the Senior Convertible Notes are met, the installment payments on the Senior Convertible Notes can be converted into shares of common stock of Akerna at a price per share equal to the lower of (i) the conversion price then in effect, or (ii) the greater of (x) the floor price of $0.54 and (y) 90% of the lower of (A) the volume-weighted average price of the common stock as of the trading day immediately preceding the applicable date of determination and (B) the quotient of (I) the sum of the volume-weighted average price of the common stock for each of the two (2) trading days with the lowest volume-weighted average price of the common stock during the ten consecutive trading day period ending on and including the trading day immediately prior to the applicable date of determination, divided by (II) two. If the equity conditions are not satisfied and the holder does not waive the equity conditions, the Senior Convertible Note’s installment payments must be made in cash.

Due to the variable nature of the adjustments of installment conversion prices and the formula that sets certain conversion prices of these securities based on a discount to the then-current market price, we could issue up to 27,153,199 shares of common stock as of June 28, 2022, upon conversion of the Senior Convertible Notes at the floor price, which may result in significant dilution to our stockholders and could negatively impact the trading price of our common stock. This financing will reset the conversion price of the Senior Convertible Notes, see the risk factors under “Risks Related to this Offering” below.

Our obligations to the holders of our Senior Convertible Notes are secured by a security interest in substantially all of our assets, if we default on those obligations, the Senior Convertible Note holders could foreclose on our assets.

Our obligations under the Senior Convertible Notes, issued on October 5, 2021, and the related transaction documents are secured by a security interest in substantially all of our assets. As a result, if we default on our obligations under such Senior Convertible Notes, the collateral agent on behalf of the holders of the Senior Convertible Notes could foreclose on the security interests and liquidate some or all of our assets, which would harm our business, financial condition and results of operations and could require us to reduce or cease operations and investors may lose all or part of your investment.

Events of default under the Senior Convertible Notes include: (i) the failure of the registration statement to which this prospectus relates (under the registration rights agreement between the Company and the holders) to be filed with the SEC or the failure of the applicable registration statement to be declared effective by the SEC by deadlines set forth in the registration rights agreement; (ii) (x) the effectiveness of the applicable registration statement lapses for any reason or such registration statement is unavailable to any holder of registrable securities and Rule 144 (subject to certain conditions) is not unavailable to any holder of the conversion shares; (iii) suspension of trading of the Company’s common stock on a national securities exchange for five days; (iv) uncured conversion failure; (v) failure by the Company to maintain required share allocations for the conversion of the Senior Convertible Notes; (vi) failure by the Company to pay principal when due; (vii) failure of the Company to remove restricted legends from shares issued to a holder upon conversion of the Senior Convertible Notes; (viii) the occurrence of any default under, redemption of or acceleration prior to maturity of at least an aggregate of $50,000 of indebtedness of the Company; (ix) bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization or liquidation proceedings or other proceedings for the relief of debtors shall be instituted by or against the Company or any subsidiary and not dismissed within 45 days of initiation; (x) the commencement by the Company or any subsidiary of a voluntary case or proceeding under any applicable federal, state or foreign bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization or other similar law; (xi) the entry by a court of a decree, order, judgment or other similar document in respect of the Company or any subsidiary of a voluntary or involuntary case or proceeding under any applicable federal, state or foreign bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization or other similar law; (xii) final judgment for the payment of money aggregating in excess of $50,000 are rendered against the Company or any subsidiary of the Company and not bonded or discharged within 30 days; (xiii) failure of the Company or any subsidiary to pay when due any debts in excess of $50,000 due to any third party; (xiv) breaches by the Company or any subsidiary of any representations or warranties in the securities purchase agreement for the Senior Convertible Notes or any document contemplated thereby; (xv) a false or inaccurate certification by the Company that either (A) the “Equity Conditions” (as defined in the Senior Convertible Notes) are satisfied, (B) there has been no “Equity Conditions Failure,” (as defined in the Senior Convertible Notes) or (C) as to whether any Event of Default has occurred; (xvi) failure of the Company or any subsidiary to comply with certain of the covenants in the Senior Convertible Notes; (xvii) the occurrence of (A) at any time after the six month anniversary of the issuance date, any current public information failure that remains outstanding for a period of twenty (20) trading days or (B) any restatement of any financial statements of the Company filed with the SEC; (xviii) any material adverse effect occurring; (xix) any provision of any transaction document shall at any time for any reason cease to be valid and binding or enforceable; (xx) any security document shall for any reason (other than pursuant to the express terms thereof or due to any failure or omission of the collateral agent) fail or cease to create a separate valid and perfected and, except to the extent permitted by the terms hereof or thereof, first priority lien; (xxi) any material damage to, or loss, theft or destruction of, any collateral, that is material to the business of the Company or any subsidiary and is not reimbursed by insurance; or (xxii) any Event of Default occurs under any other Senior Convertible Notes.

The holders of the Senior Convertible Notes have certain additional rights upon an event of default under such Senior Convertible Notes, which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations and could require us to reduce or cease our operations.

Under the Senior Convertible Notes, the holders have certain rights upon an event of default. Such rights include (i) the remaining principal amount of the Senior Convertible Notes bearing interest at a rate of 15% per annum, (ii) during the event of default the holders of the Senior Convertible Notes will be entitled to convert all or any portion of the Senior Convertible Notes at an alternate conversion price equal to the lower of (i) the conversion price then in effect, and (ii) 80% of the lower of (x) the volume weighted average price of the common stock as of the trading day immediately preceding the applicable date of determination and (y) the quotient of (A) the sum of the volume weighted average price of the common stock for each of the two (2) trading days with the lowest volume weighted average price of the common stock during the ten consecutive trading day period ending and including the trading day immediately prior to the applicable date of determination, divided by (B) two, but not less than the floor price, and (iii) the holder having the right to demand redemption of all or a portion of the Senior Convertible Notes, as described below. At any time after certain notice requirements for an event of default are triggered, a holder of Senior Convertible Notes may require us to redeem all or any portion of the convertible note by delivering written notice. The redemption price will equal the greater of (i) 115% of the outstanding principal of the convertible note to be redeemed and accrued and unpaid interest and unpaid late charges thereon, and (ii) an amount equal to the market value of the shares of the common stock underlying the Senior Convertible Notes, as determined in accordance with the Senior Convertible Notes. Upon the occurrence of certain events of default relating to the bankruptcy of Akerna, whether occurring prior to or following the maturity date, Akerna will be required to immediately redeem the Senior Convertible Notes, in cash, for an amount equal to 115% of the outstanding principal of the Senior Convertible Notes, and accrued and unpaid interest and unpaid late charges thereon, without the requirement for any notice or demand or other action by any holder or any other person or entity. We may not have sufficient funds to settle the redemption price and, as described above, this could trigger rights under the security interest granted to the holders and result in the foreclosure of their security interests and liquidation of some or all of our assets.

The exercise of any of these rights upon an event of default could substantially harm our financial condition, substantially dilute our other shareholders and force us to reduce or cease operations and investors may lose all or part of their investment.

Risks Relating to Our Common Stock

We may seek to raise additional funds, finance acquisitions, or develop strategic relationships by issuing securities that would dilute investors’ ownership. Depending on the terms available to us, if these activities result in significant dilution, it may negatively impact the trading price of our shares of common stock.

Any additional financing that we secure, may require the granting of rights, preferences, or privileges senior to, or pari passu with, those of our common stock. Any issuances by us of equity securities may be at or below the prevailing market price of our common stock and in any event, may have a dilutive impact on stockholders’ ownership interest, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline. We may also raise additional funds through the incurrence of debt, subject to the limitations imposed by our current outstanding Senior Convertible Notes, or the issuance or sale of other securities or instruments senior to our shares of common stock. We cannot be certain how the repayment of our Senior Convertible Notes will be funded and we may issue further equity or debt in order to raise funds to repay the promissory notes, including funding that may be highly dilutive. The holders of any securities or instruments we may issue may have rights superior to the rights of our common stockholders. If we experience dilution from the issuance of additional securities and we grant superior rights to new securities over holders of our common stock, it may negatively impact the trading price of our shares of common stock and stockholders may lose all or part of their investment.

Warrants are exercisable for our common stock, which could increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our stockholders.

Currently, before this offering, there are warrants to purchase 5,813,804 shares of our common stock, and each one of those warrants is exercisable for one share of common stock at $11.50 per share. To the extent such warrants are exercised, additional shares of common stock will be issued, which will result in dilution to the then-existing holders of common stock and increase the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Certain of our warrants are accounted for as a warrant liability and are recorded at fair value upon issuance with any changes in fair value each period reported in our statement of operations, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities.

We had 225,635 warrants that were issued in private placements that occurred concurrently with the initial public offering of MTech, our successor (the “private warrants”). These private warrants and the shares of Company common stock issuable upon the exercise of the private warrants are exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, at the holder’s option, and are non-redeemable so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees. If the private warrants are held by someone other than the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, the private warrants will be redeemable by the Company and exercisable by such holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units sold in the initial public offering, in which case the 225,635 private warrants could be redeemed by the Company for $2,256.35. Under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), the Company is required to evaluate contingent exercise provisions of these warrants and then their settlement provisions to determine whether they should be accounted for as a warrant liability or as equity. As a result of the provision that the private warrants, when held by someone other than the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, will be redeemable by the Company, the requirements for accounting for these warrants as equity are not satisfied. Therefore, the Company is required to account for these private warrants as a warrant liability and record (a) that liability at fair value and (b) any subsequent changes in fair value as of the end of each period for which earnings are reported. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock. 

We may face additional risks, including regulatory, litigation, stockholder or other actions and negative impacts on our stock price, as a result of the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting and revisions to our financial statements.

As a result of our material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting, the change in accounting for certain warrants, and the related revisions to our prior financial statements or that may in the future be raised by the SEC, we face potential additional risks, including regulatory, litigation, stockholder or other actions and negative impacts on our stock price, which may include, among others, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. As of the date of this report, we have no knowledge of any such litigation or dispute. However, we can provide no assurance that such litigation or dispute will not arise in the future. Any such litigation or dispute, whether successful or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The market price of our shares of common stock is particularly volatile given our status as a relatively new public company with a generally small and thinly traded public float, which could lead to wide fluctuations in our share price. You may be unable to sell your shares of common stock at or above your purchase price, which may result in substantial losses to you.

The market for our shares of common stock is characterized by significant price volatility when compared to the shares of larger, more established companies that trade on a national securities exchange and have large public floats, and we expect that our share price will continue to be more volatile than the shares of such larger, more established companies for the indefinite future. The volatility in our share price is attributable to a number of factors, including the fact that our shares are thinly traded relative to larger, more established companies. The price for our shares of common stock could, for example, decline precipitously in the event that a large number of our shares of common stock are sold on the market without commensurate demand. As of March 31, 2022, there were public warrants to purchase 5,813,804 shares of our common stock at $11.50 per share and $16.7 million in principal amount of Senior Convertible Notes at a price of $4.05 per share (subject to being reset to the price at which shares of common stock are offered in this offering), which if exercised or converted and sold into the open market could cause our stock price to decline. In addition, because we may be considered a speculative or “risky” investment due to our lack of profits to date, certain investors may, under the fear of losing all or most of their investment in the event of negative news or lack of progress, be more inclined to sell their shares of common stock on the market more quickly and at greater discounts, thus resulting in a rapid downward decline in the price of our common stock. Many of these factors are beyond our control and may decrease the market price of our shares of common stock, regardless of our operating performance.

The market price of our common stock is still likely to be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations, and you may be unable to resell your shares of common stock at or above the price at which you acquired them.

The market price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a number of factors that are beyond our control, including, but not limited to:

The trading price of our shares of common stock might also decline in reaction to events that affect other companies in our industry, even if these events do not directly affect us. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against companies. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.

We have not paid dividends in the past and do not expect to pay dividends for the foreseeable future, and any return on investment may be limited to potential future appreciation in the value of our common stock.

We currently intend to retain any future earnings to support the development and expansion of our business and do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our shares of common stock in the foreseeable future. Our payment of any future dividends will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors after taking into account various factors, including without limitation, our financial condition, operating results, cash needs, growth plans, and the terms of any credit agreements that we may be a party to at the time. To the extent we do not pay dividends, our shares of common stock may be less valuable because a return on investment will only occur if and to the extent our stock price appreciates, which may never occur. In addition, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation as the only way to realize their investment, and if the price of our common stock does not appreciate, then there will be no return on investment. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our common stock.

Risks Relating to This Offering

Funds raised in this offering may not be sufficient to eliminate the substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

Our ability to continue as a going concern is uncertain and dependent upon obtaining the financing necessary to meet our financial commitments and to continue our ongoing operations as currently planned. Even with the funds raised in this offering, if we do not meet our management’s current projections and assumptions regarding revenues, costs and cash flows we may not have sufficient funds to meet planned expenditures over the next twelve months, we may require additional financing in the near future to meet our ongoing operational working capital requirements and continue to meet the financial covenants of our convertible notes and may need to seek additional debt or equity financing to meet our planned expenditures. If we are unable to raise sufficient capital we may have to reduce operations which could significantly affect our results of operations.  If we fail to meet the financial covenants of our debt and cannot obtain a waiver from such provisions or otherwise come to an agreement with the holders of our debt, such holders may declare a default on the debt which could subject our assets to seizure and sale, negatively impacting our business. See “Risks Relating to Our Financial Condition and Operating History” above.

Due to this offering, the conversion price pursuant to our Senior Convertible Notes will need to be adjusted, which will result in the potential issuance of higher number of shares of our common stock pursuant to the conversion than previously anticipated, thereby resulting in significant dilution to our stockholders.

The conversion of our outstanding Senior Convertible Notes, issued on October 5, 2021 (the “Senior Convertible Notes”), could result in the issuance of a significant number of shares of our common stock. The currently outstanding $14.66 million principal amount of Senior Convertible Notes is convertible at a price of $4.05 per share, which would result in the issuance of 3,619,753 shares of our common stock upon the conversion of the Senior Convertible Notes in full. At the option of Akerna, the installment payments on the Senior Convertible Notes can be converted into shares of common stock of Akerna at a price per share equal to the lower of (i) the conversion price then in effect, or (ii) the greater of (x) the floor price of $0.54 and (y) 90% of the lower of (A) the volume-weighted average price of the common stock as of the trading day immediately preceding the applicable date of determination and (B) the quotient of (I) the sum of the volume-weighted average price of the common stock for each of the two (2) trading days with the lowest volume-weighted average price of the common stock during the ten consecutive trading day period ending on and including the trading day immediately prior to the applicable date of determination, divided by (II) two.

Pursuant to the terms of the Convertible Notes, if on or after the issue date of the Convertible Notes the Company issues or sells shares of common stock or certain other securities exercisable or convertible into shares of common stock for a deemed issue price less than the then current conversion price of the Convertible Notes, then the conversion price of the Convertible Notes will be adjusted to the deemed issue price per share of the shares of common stock or other securities issued. However, on June 30, 2022, the holders of the notes released signatures from escrow for a previoulsy agreed to amendment and waiver agreement pursuant to which the holders of the convertible notes waived the application of this term of the Convertible Notes to the issuance of securities under this financing and instead agreed to reset the conversion price to a per share price equal to 135% of the per unit price in this offering, which is $0.3105 per share based on the offering price of $0.23 and based on the approximately $14.66 million principal amount of Senior Convertible Notes would be convertible into 47,214,170 shares of our common stock.

If our common stock is delisted from Nasdaq, the liquidity and price of our common stock could decrease and our ability to obtain financing could be impaired.

On May 24, 2022, we received a notification letter from The Nasdaq Stock Market stating that we are not in compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement, which requires our listed securities to maintain a minimum bid price of $1.00 per share. The notification stated that we have a compliance period of 180 calendar days, or until November 21, 2022, to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement. If at any time during this 180-day compliance period the closing bid price of our common stock is at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten consecutive business days, then the Nasdaq Stock Market will provide us with written confirmation of compliance and the matter will be closed.

If compliance cannot be demonstrated by November 21, 2022, we may be eligible for additional time. To qualify, we will be required to meet the continued listing requirement for market value of publicly held shares and all other initial listing standards on the Nasdaq Capital Market (except the bid price requirement). In addition, we would be required to provide written notice of our intention to cure the minimum bid price deficiency during this second 180-day compliance period by effecting a reverse stock split, if necessary. If we are not granted an additional 180-day compliance period, then Nasdaq will provide written notification that our securities will be subject to delisting. At that time, we may appeal the determination to delist our securities to a Nasdaq hearings panel. There can be no assurance that we will regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement or otherwise maintain compliance with the other listing requirements.

Management will have broad discretion as to the use of the net proceeds from this offering, and we may not use the proceeds effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion as to the application of the net proceeds and could use them for purposes other than those contemplated at the time of this offering. Our stockholders may not agree with the manner in which our management chooses to allocate and spend the net proceeds. Moreover, our management may use the net proceeds for corporate purposes that may not increase our results of operations or the market value of our common stock. Our failure to apply these funds effectively could have a material adverse effect on our business, delay the development and approval of our products and cause the price of our common stock to decline.

If you purchase shares of our common stock in this offering, you will experience immediate dilution as a result of this offering.

Because the price per share being offered may be higher than net tangible book value per share of our common stock, you will experience dilution to the extent of the difference between the offering price per share of common stock you pay in this offering and the net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately after this offering. Our net tangible book value as of March 31, 2022 was approximately $(17.9 million), or $(0.52) per share of common stock. Net tangible book value per share is equal to our total tangible assets minus total liabilities, all divided by the number of shares of common stock outstanding. See “Dilution” on page 30 of this prospectus for a more detailed illustration of the dilution you may incur if you participate in this offering. Because the sales of the shares offered hereby will be made directly into the market or in negotiated transactions, the prices at which we sell these shares will vary and these variations may be significant. Purchasers of the shares we sell, as well as our existing stockholders, will experience significant dilution if we sell shares at prices significantly below the price at which they invested.

If you purchase shares of our common stock in this offering, you may experience future dilution as a result of future equity offerings or other equity issuances.

In order to raise additional capital, we may in the future offer and issue additional shares of our common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock. We cannot assure you that we will be able to sell shares or other securities in any offering at a price per share that is equal to or greater than the price per share paid by investors in previous offerings, and investors purchasing shares or other securities in the future could have rights superior to existing stockholders. The price per share at which we sell additional shares of our common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our common stock in future transactions may be higher or lower than the price per share in previous offerings. Further, we may choose to raise additional capital due to market conditions or strategic considerations, even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. In addition, the exercise of outstanding stock options and warrants or the settlement of outstanding restricted stock units would result in further dilution of your investment.

This offering may cause the trading price of our common stock to decrease.

The price per share, together with the number of shares of common stock we propose to issue and ultimately will issue if this offering is completed, may result in an immediate decrease in the market price of our common stock. This decrease may continue after the completion of this offering.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares are eligible to be sold into the market, which could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, either by us or by our current stockholders, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause a decline in the market price of our securities. Such sales, along with any other market transactions, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Upon completion of this offering, based on our shares outstanding as of June 28, 2022, we will have 80,274,783 shares of common stock outstanding based on the issuance and sale of 29,382,861 units and 14,095,400 pre-funded units in this offering and assuming the exercise of all pre-funded warrants in this offering, and no exercise of any warrants issued in this offering. Of these shares, 2,400,118 are subject to a contractual lock-up with the underwriter for this offering for a period of 90 days following this offering. These shares can be sold, subject to any applicable volume limitations under federal securities laws, after the earlier of the expiration of, or release from, the 90-day lock-up period. The balance of our outstanding shares of common stock, including any shares of common stock included in units or issuable upon the exercise of the warrants and pre-funded warrants purchased in this offering other than shares acquired by our current stockholders who are also subject to the contractual lock-up, may be resold into the public market immediately without restriction, unless owned or purchased by our affiliates.

As of March 31, 2022, there were an aggregate of 5,813,804 shares subject to outstanding warrants, many of which shares we have registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). These shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates to the extent applicable.

As of March 31, 2022, there were 1,071,205 shares subject to outstanding options and restricted stock units that are issuable under our equity incentive plan, all of which shares we have registered under the Securities Act on a registration statement on Form S-8. These shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to volume limitations applicable to affiliates, to the extent applicable.

We do not intend to pay dividends in the foreseeable future.

We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain our future earnings, if any, to finance the operation and growth of our business and currently do not plan to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

There is no public market for the units, pre-funded units, or warrants being offered in this offering.

There is no established public trading market for the units, pre-funded units, or warrants being offered in this offering, and we do not expect a market to develop. In addition, we do not intend to apply to list the units, pre-funded units, or warrants on any securities exchange or nationally recognized trading system. Without an active market, the liquidity of the units, pre-funded units, or warrants will be limited.

Holders of our warrants and pre-funded warrants will have no rights as a common stockholder until they acquire our common stock.

Until you acquire shares of our common stock upon exercise of your warrants or pre-funded warrants, you will have no rights with respect to shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of your warrants or pre-funded warrants. Upon exercise of your warrants or pre-funded warrants, you will be entitled to exercise the rights of a common stockholder only as to matters for which the record date occurs after the exercise date.

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

If we do not maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants or the pre-funded warrants at the time that holders wish to exercise such warrants or pre-funded warrants, they will only be able to exercise them on a “cashless basis,” and under no circumstances would we be required to make any cash payments or net cash settle such warrants to the holders. As a result, the number of shares of common stock that holders will receive upon exercise of the warrants or pre-funded warrants will be fewer than it would have been had such holders exercised their warrants or pre-funded warrants for cash. Under the terms of the warrants and pre-funded warrants, we have agreed to use our best efforts to maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants and pre-funded warrants until the expiration of such warrants and pre-funded warrants. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to do so. If we are unable to do so, the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company may be reduced.

The pre-funded warrants are speculative in nature.

The pre-funded warrants offered hereby do not confer any rights of common stock ownership on their holders, such as voting rights or the right to receive dividends, but rather merely represent the right to acquire shares of common stock at a fixed price. Specifically, commencing on the date of issuance, holders of the pre-funded warrants may acquire the common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants at an exercise price of $0.0001 per share of common stock. Moreover, following this offering, the market value of the pre-funded warrants is uncertain and there can be no assurance that the market value of the pre-funded warrants will equal or exceed their public offering price. There can be no assurance that the market price of the common stock will ever equal or exceed the exercise price of the pre-funded warrants, and consequently, whether it will ever be profitable for holders of the pre-funded warrants to exercise the pre-funded warrants.

The warrants may not have any value.

Each warrant has an exercise price per share of $0.23 (100% of the unit offering price), are immediately exercisable after their issuance and will expire 5 years from the initial issuance date. In the event our common stock price does not exceed the exercise price of the warrants during the period when the warrants are exercisable, the warrants may not have any value.

Provisions of the warrants and pre-funded warrants offered by this prospectus could discourage an acquisition of us by a third party.

Certain provisions of the warrants and pre-funded warrants offered by this prospectus could make it more difficult or expensive for a third party to acquire us. The warrants and pre-funded warrants prohibit us from engaging in certain transactions constituting “fundamental transactions” unless, among other things, the surviving entity assumes our obligations under the warrants and pre-funded warrants. Further, the warrants and pre-funded warrants provide that, in the event of certain transactions constituting “fundamental transactions,” with some exception, holders of such warrants and pre-funded warrants will have the right, at their option, to require us to repurchase such warrants and pre-funded warrants at a price described therein. These and other provisions of the warrants and pre-funded warrants offered by this prospectus could prevent or deter a third party from acquiring us even where the acquisition could be beneficial to you.

Proposed legislation in the U.S. Congress, including changes in U.S. tax law, may adversely impact the Company and the value of the units, pre-funded units, shares of common stock, pre-funded warrants, and warrants.

Changes to U.S. tax laws (which changes may have retroactive application) could adversely affect the Company or holders of the units, pre-funded units, shares of common stock, pre-funded warrants or warrants. In recent years, many changes to U.S. federal income tax laws have been proposed and made, and additional changes to U.S. federal income tax laws are likely to continue to occur in the future.

The U.S. Congress is currently considering numerous items of legislation which may be enacted prospectively or with retroactive effect, which legislation could adversely impact the Company’s financial performance and the value of the units, pre-funded units, shares of common stock, pre-funded warrants and warrants. In particular, new proposed legislation known as the “Build Back Better Act” is under consideration within both houses of U.S. Congress. The proposed legislation includes, without limitation, new corporate minimum income taxes. If enacted, most of the proposals would be effective for 2022 or later years. The proposed legislation remains subject to change, and its impact on the Company and investors who purchase the units, pre-funded units, shares of common stock, pre-funded warrants or warrants is uncertain.

General Risk Factors

We may not be able to timely and effectively implement controls and procedures required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

The standards required for a public company under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are significantly more stringent than those required of MJF as a privately held company. Management may not be able to effectively and timely implement controls and procedures that adequately respond to the regulatory compliance and reporting requirements that are applicable to us. If we are not able to implement the additional requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or with adequate compliance, we may not be able to conclude that our internal controls over financial reporting are effective, which may subject us to adverse regulatory consequences and could harm investor confidence and the market price of our common stock.

Failure to remediate material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting could result in material misstatements in our financial statements.

Our management has identified material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting and has concluded that due to such material weaknesses, our internal controls over financial reporting (including disclosure controls and procedures) were not effective as of December 31, 2021. If not remediated, our failure to establish and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures over financial reporting could result in material misstatements in our financial statements and a failure to meet our reporting and financial obligations, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and the trading price of our common stock.

The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and divert management’s attention.

As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, the listing requirements of NASDAQ, and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increase demand on our systems and resources, particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could adversely affect our business and operating results. We may need to hire more employees in the future or engage outside consultants to comply with these requirements, which will increase our costs and expenses.

In addition, changing laws, regulations, and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time-consuming. These laws, regulations, and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations, and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations, and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to their application and practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be adversely affected.

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

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. Additionally, as an emerging growth company, we have elected to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards that have different effective dates for public and private companies until those standards apply to private companies. As such, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates. It cannot be predicted if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our share price may be more volatile.

Our ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.

Under Section 382 and related provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”), if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change” (generally defined as a greater than 50% change (by value) in its equity ownership over a three year period), the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes to offset its post-change income may be limited. We may, in the future, as a result of subsequent shifts in our stock ownership, experience, an “ownership change.” Thus, our ability to utilize carryforwards of our net operating losses and other tax attributes to reduce future tax liabilities may be substantially restricted. At this time, we have not completed a study to assess whether an ownership change under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code has occurred at any time in the past or may occur in the foreseeable future, due to the costs and complexities associated with completing such a study. Therefore, we may not be able to take full advantage of these carryforwards for federal or state tax purposes.

Our operations could be adversely affected by events outside of our control, such as natural disasters, wars, or health epidemics.

We may be impacted by business interruptions resulting from geopolitical actions, including war and terrorism, or natural disasters including earthquakes, typhoons, floods, and fires. An outbreak of any of the foregoing or fear of any of the foregoing could adversely impact us by disrupting the operations of our clients, which could result in delayed payments, non-renewal of contracts, and other adverse effects on the market for our products or by causing product development and implementation delays and disruptions (including as a result of government regulation and prevention measures). We may incur expenses or delays relating to such events outside of our control, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus and the exhibits attached hereto contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding future events or our future results of operations, financial condition, business, strategies, financial needs, and the plans and objectives of management. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified because they contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “likely,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Forward-looking statements are based on information available to our management as of the date of this prospectus and our management’s good faith belief as of such date with respect to future events and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements, in particular the substantial risks and uncertainties related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Important factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to:

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 to revise subsequently 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 prospectus by the foregoing cautionary statements.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

On June 30, 2022, the Company and the holders of its Senior Convertible Notes release their signatures from escrow for a previously agreed to amendment and waiver agreement pursuant to which the Company and the holders amended the Securities Purchase Agreement under which the holders purchased the Senior Convertible Notes to add covenants of the Company such that (a) the Company will be subject to a daily cash test beginning on July 1, 2022 of having an available cash balance of at least $7 million, which amount shall be reduced by $1 million on each of the dates at which the aggregate principal due upon the Convertible Notes is equal to or less than $14 million and $11 million, subject in all cases to a minimum of $5 million, and (b) the Company will establish and maintain bank accounts for each holder and deposit in such accounts an aggregate amount of $7 million with such amount to be released from the accounts only upon the written consent of such holder, provided that $1 million will automatically release from the accounts upon the occurrence of each of the dates at which the aggregate principal due upon the Convertible Notes is equal to or less than $14 million and $11 million, so long as no Equity Condition Failure then exists. Further the holders of the Convertible Notes waived provisions of the Senior Convertible Notes such that (i) no amortization payments are due and payable by the Company for any payments previously required to be made by the Company from July 1, 2022 through January 1, 2023, (ii) the holders of the Convertible Notes will not accelerate any previously deferred installment amounts under the Convertible Notes until January 1, 2023 and (iii) the terms of the Convertible Notes which would provide for reset of the conversion price of the Convertible Notes as a result of the issuance of securities under this prospectus and instead agree to a reset of the conversion price equal to a per share price of 135% of the per unit offering price in this offering.

On May 27, 2022, the Company announced its implementation of certain expense reduction measures, approved by the Company’s board of directors on May 24, 2022, including a reduction of the Company’s workforce by 59 full-time employees, or approximately 33% of the Company. The corporate restructuring follows the Company’s recent decision to address liquidity concerns in part by focusing its initiatives on its enterprise business and new market expansion of the SMB business.

As a result of the corporate restructuring, the company anticipates reporting $690,000 in total costs in its second quarter of 2022 to implement the reduction in force, including the following cost elements: $630,000 in severance and associated payroll taxes; $40,000 in legal costs; and $20,000 in employee insurance benefits. Of the total cost, $440,000 in salaries, payroll taxes and benefits costs would have been reported in its second quarter if the reduction in force had not been implemented. The corporate restructuring is expected to be substantially completed by the end of the second quarter of 2022. The estimates of costs that the Company expects to incur and the timing thereof are subject to a number of assumptions and actual results may differ. The Company may also incur other charges or cash expenditures not currently contemplated in connection with the corporate restructuring. This estimate may change due to future changes in the Company’s stock price. If the Company subsequently determines that it will incur additional material restructuring costs or charges or there are material differences from the ranges provided, the Company will file an amendment to this Current Report on Form 8-K (this “Current Report”) to disclose any such material costs, charges or differences.

On May 27, 2022, in relation the Company’s corporate restructuring, the Company’s executive leadership team agreed to 25% reduction in salary. As a result, the salaries of Jessica Billingsley, Chief Executive Officer, David McCullough, Chief Technology Officer, and Raymond Thompson, Special Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer, have been reduced by 25%.

On May 27, 2022, the Company filed an amendment to its Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to amend Article 4 thereof to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock, par value $0.001, from 75,000,000 shares to 150,000,000 shares.

On May 25, 2022, the stockholders of the Company approved an amendment to the Company’s Amended and Restated 2019 Long Term Incentive Plan (the “Incentive Plan”) to increase the number of shares available under the Incentive Plan by 2,934,962 shares of common stock of the Company.

On May 24, 2022, the Company received a letter from the Listing Qualifications Staff of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) indicating that, based upon the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (“Common Stock”), for the last 30 consecutive business days, the Company is not currently in compliance with the requirement to maintain a minimum bid price of $1.00 per share for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market, as set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) (the “Notice”).

The Notice has no immediate effect on the continued listing status of the Company’s Common Stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market, and, therefore, the Company’s listing remains fully effective.

The Company is provided a compliance period of 180 calendar days from the date of the Notice, or until November 21, 2022, to regain compliance with the minimum closing bid requirement, pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A). If at any time before November 21, 2022, the closing bid price of the Company’s Common Stock closes at or above $1.00 per share for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days, subject to Nasdaq’s discretion to extend this period pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(G) to 20 consecutive business days, Nasdaq will provide written notification that the Company has achieved compliance with the minimum bid price requirement, and the matter would be resolved. If the Company does not regain compliance during the compliance period ending November 21, 2022, then Nasdaq may grant the Company a second 180 calendar day period to regain compliance, provided the Company meets the continued listing requirement for market value of publicly-held shares and all other initial listing standards for The Nasdaq Capital Market, other than the minimum closing bid price requirement, and notifies Nasdaq of its intent to cure the deficiency.

On May 23, 2022, we entered into an amending agreement (the “Amendment”) to the Amended and Restated Stock Purchase Agreement, dated as of October 1, 2021 (the “Original Agreement”), by and among the Company, The Nav People, Inc., a Delaware corporation d/b/a “365 Cannabis”) (the “365 Cannabis”) and Matthew Dredge, Ian Humphries, Jeff Kiehn, David Walker and Quartermain Investment Holdings Ltd. (collectively, the “Sellers”).

Pursuant to the Amendment, Section 2.04(a) of the Original Agreement was amended to provide that the Sellers could elect to have the potential earn-out payment described therein paid in cash or in shares of the Company or in any combination thereof. The Original Agreement previously had provided that the Company could elect whether to pay the earn-out payment in cash or in shares of the Company. Under the Amendment, if a Seller elects to have any portion of the earn-out payment paid in cash such amount payable will be reduced by 25%. Further, Section 2.04(b) of the Original Agreement was amendment to reflect the administrative handling of the earn-out payment to the Sellers in cash or shares of the Company.

Pursuant to the Amendment, Section 2.06 of the Original Agreement was amended to require that $100,000 the Second Post-Closing Payment (as defined in the Original Agreement) will be made at the end of June 2022 on the same day on which the Buyer’s end-of-month payroll is run and on each of the next four months thereafter, in each such month on the same day on which the Buyer’s end-of-month payroll is run.

On May 16, 2022, the Company and Ray Thompson, the Company’s then-President and Chief Operating Officer, agreed to a transition, effective immediately, by which Mr. Thompson moved from his role as President and Chief Operating Officer to Special Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer. In this new role, Mr. Thompson will continue to assist the Chief Executive Officer with certain of the day-to-day operations of the Company and advise the Company on various aspects of corporate strategy. In relation to the Company’s enterprise business, Jeff Kiehn, the Company’s current President of Akerna Enterprise will report to the Chief Executive Officer. Additionally, the Company intends for the functions of strategic communications, compliance, technology, and human resources to report directly to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer.

On May 11, 2022, the Company and and John Fowle the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and Secretary agreed to a mutual separation effective as of May 17, 2022. Mr. Fowle is leaving to pursue other opportunities.

On May 11, 2022, the Board of Directors of the Company appointed Larry Dean Ditto, Jr. as Interim Chief Financial Officer (“Interim CFO”) of the Company effective May 17, 2022.

USE OF PROCEEDS

The net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $9.3 million (or approximately $10.69 million if the underwriter exercises the over-allotment option to acquire equal portions of shares and warrants in full), after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us and assuming none of the warrants issued in this offering are exercised.

We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, including servicing our ongoing debt obligations under our convertible notes, working capital, marketing, product development and capital expenditures. As of the date of this prospectus, we cannot predict with certainty all of the particular uses for the net proceeds to be received upon the completion of this offering or the amounts that we will actually spend on the uses set forth above. The amounts and timing of our actual use of proceeds will vary depending on numerous factors, including the factors described under the heading “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. As a result, management will retain broad discretion over the allocation of the net proceeds from this offering, and investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the net proceeds.

DILUTION

If you invest in the securities being offered by this prospectus, your interest will be diluted immediately to the extent of the difference between the public offering price per unit and the as adjusted, net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately after this offering.

The net tangible book value of our common stock as of March 31, 2022 was approximately $(17.9) million, or approximately $(0.52) per share based on approximately 34.2 million shares of our common stock issued and outstanding. Net tangible book value per share represents the amount of our total tangible assets, excluding goodwill and intangible assets, less total liabilities, divided by the total number of shares of our common stock outstanding.

After giving further effect to the sale of 29,382,861 units and 14,095,400 pre-funded units and assuming exercise of all pre-funded warrants at $0.001 and no exercise of the warrants being offered in this offering and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us of $230,000, our as adjusted pro forma net tangible book value per share as of March 31, 2022, would have been approximately $(8.82) million, or approximately $(0.11) per share based on approximately 77.7 million shares issued and outstanding on an as adjusted basis. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value per share of $0.41 to existing stockholders and an immediate dilution of approximately $0.33 per share to new investors purchasing units in this offering (based on a per unit offering price of $0.23 per unit and a value of $0.01 per warrant).

Dilution per share to new investors is determined by subtracting the pro forma, as adjusted, net tangible book value per share after this offering from the public offering price per share and related warrant paid by new investors.

The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis:

The number of shares of common stock used in the table above is based on approximately 34.2 million shares of common stock outstanding as of March 31, 2022 and approximately 77.7 million shares on an as adjusted basis after giving effect to the issuance of approximately 43.5 million shares of common stock and common stock upon exercise of pre-funded warrants offered by this prospectus. Except as otherwise indicated herein, all information in this prospectus assumes (i) no exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option, and (ii) no exercise of the underwriter’s warrants to be issued in connection with this offering.

The number of shares of common stock outstanding excludes as of March 31, 2022:

To the extent that outstanding options or warrants are exercised, you will experience further dilution. In addition, we may choose to raise additional capital due to market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. To the extent that additional capital is raised through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the issuance of these securities could result in further dilution to our stockholders.

DIVIDEND POLICY

We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future. In addition, our ability to pay dividends is restricted by agreements governing Akerna’s and its subsidiaries’ debt, including the Company’s senior secured convertible notes. See “Risk Factors” above.

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

As of June 28, 2022, our authorized share capital consists of 150,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, of which 36,796,522 shares of common stock are issued and outstanding, 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.0001 par value per share, of which one share of special voting preferred stock is issued and outstanding with a voting equivalent of 291,192  shares of common stock. We are a Delaware corporation and our affairs are governed by our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated By-laws. The following are summaries of material provisions of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated By-laws insofar as they relate to the material terms of our common stock. Complete copies of our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated By-laws are filed as exhibits to our public filings.

Common Stock

All outstanding shares of common stock are of the same class and have equal rights and attributes. The holders of common stock are entitled to one vote per share on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders. Subject to the prior rights of all classes or series of stock at the time outstanding having prior rights as to dividends or other distributions, all stockholders are entitled to share equally in dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by the Board of Directors out of funds legally available. Subject to the prior rights of creditors of Akerna and the holders of all classes or series of stock at the time outstanding having prior rights as to distributions upon liquidation, dissolution or winding up of Akerna, in the event of liquidation, the holders of common stock are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining after payment of all liabilities. The stockholders do not have cumulative, preemptive rights, or subscription rights.

Preferred Stock

The board of directors is authorized, subject to any limitations prescribed by law, without further vote or action by the stockholders, to issue from time to time shares of Preferred Stock in one or more series. Each such series of Preferred Stock shall have such number of shares, designations, preferences, voting powers, qualifications, and special or relative rights or privileges as shall be determined by the board of directors, which may include, among others, dividend rights, voting rights, liquidation preferences, conversion rights and preemptive rights. Issuance of Preferred Stock by our board of directors may result in such shares having dividend and/or liquidation preferences senior to the rights of the holders of our common stock and could dilute the voting rights of the holders of our common stock.

Prior to the issuance of shares of each series of Preferred Stock, the board of directors is required by the Delaware General Corporation Law, and our certificate of incorporation to adopt resolutions and file a certificate of designation with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware. The certificate of designation fixes for each class or series the designations, powers, preferences, rights, qualifications, limitations and restrictions, including, but not limited to, some or all of the following:

Once designated by our board of directors, each series of Preferred Stock may have specific financial and other terms that will be described in a prospectus. The description of the Preferred Stock that is set forth in any prospectus is not complete without reference to the documents that govern the Preferred Stock. These include our certificate of incorporation and any certificates of designation that our board of directors may adopt.

All shares of Preferred Stock offered hereby will, when issued, be fully paid and nonassessable, including shares of Preferred Stock issued upon the exercise of Preferred Stock Warrants or subscription rights, if any.

Although our board of directors has no intention at the present time of doing so, it could authorize the issuance of a series of Preferred Stock that could, depending on the terms of such series, impede the completion of a merger, tender offer or other takeover attempt.

Special Voting Share

The special voting share has a par value of $0.0001 per share. The special voting share entitles the holder thereof to an aggregate number of votes equal to the number of the Exchangeable Shares issued and outstanding from time to time and that are not owned by us or our subsidiaries. Except as otherwise provided herein or by law, the holder of the special voting share and the holders of our common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of Akerna’s shareholders. With respect to all meetings of shareholders of Akerna at which holders of Akerna shares are entitled to vote, each registered holder of Exchangeable Shares shall be entitled to instruct the trustee holding the special voting share to cast and exercise, in the manner instructed, that number of votes equal to the “Equivalent Vote Amount” for each Exchangeable Share owned of record by such holder of Exchangeable Shares at the close of business on the record date established by Akerna or by applicable law for such meeting, in respect of each matter, question, proposal or proposition to be voted on at such meeting. At such time as the special voting share has no votes attached to it, the special voting share shall be automatically cancelled.

Exchangeable Shares

The Exchangeable Shares of Exchangeco are intended to be substantially economically equivalent to shares of our common stock. The rights, privileges, restrictions and conditions attaching to the Exchangeable Shares of Exchangeco include the following:

Of the 3,294,574 Exchangeable Shares that were issued to former Ample shareholders in connection with the consummation of the Arrangement, an aggregate of 658,915 Exchangeable Shares were issued as “Closing Consideration” and an aggregate of 2,635,659 Exchangeable Shares, constituting part of the “Escrowed Consideration” were issued into escrow pursuant to an escrow agreement (the “Escrow Agreement”), entered into on July 7, 2020 by and among the Company, Exchangeco, John Prentice, as Shareholder Representative, and Odyssey Trust Company. Under the Escrow Agreement, subject to unresolved claims by the Company under the Arrangement Agreement in respect of fraud, the Escrowed Consideration shall be released to former Ample shareholders upon the six-, nine-, and twelve-month anniversaries of the Closing Date in accordance with the following schedule -- 988,372 shares on the six-month anniversary, 823,643 shares on the nine-month anniversary, and 823,644 shares on the twelve-month anniversary. As of the date hereof, 3,003,382 shares of common stock of Akerna have been issued on conversion of Exchangeable Shares.

Registration Rights

We have granted registration rights under the Securities Act to certain holders of our common stock in relation to our acquisitions of Ample and 365 Cannabis and in relation to our issuance of the Senior Convertible Notes. In relation to Ample, we agreed to file and maintain, until no Exchangeable Shares remain outstanding, a registration statement regarding the exchange of the Exchangeable Shares into shares of our common stock pursuant to their terms. In relation thereto, we filed a registration statement on Form S-1 on July 9, 2020 (333-239783) which was brought effective on August 14, 2020, as amended on January 8, 2021 and as amended on Form S-3 on May 24, 2021. In relation to the acquisition transaction of 365 Cannabis, we have agreed to register the shares of common stock issuable upon initial closing of the transaction and upon settlement of the earn-out provision, if any. In relation to our issuance of the Senior Convertible Notes, we have agreed to file the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. We are also obligated to maintain such registration statement until the earlier of (i) the date as of which all of the holders may sell all of the conversion shares required to be covered by such registration statement without restriction pursuant to Rule 144 (including, without limitation, volume restrictions) and without the need for current public information required by Rule 144(c)(1) (or Rule 144(i)(2), if applicable), (ii) the date on which the holders shall have sold all of the registrable securities covered by such registration statement or (iii) the later of (x) ninety (90) calendar days after the date no Senior Convertible Notes remain outstanding and (y) the first anniversary of the maturity date of the Senior Convertible Notes. We may also be required in the future to file amendments to these registration statements to maintain effectiveness.

Pre-Funded Warrants

The following summary of certain terms and provisions of pre-funded warrants that are being offered hereby is not complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by, the provisions of the pre-funded warrant, the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Prospective investors should carefully review the terms and provisions of the form of pre-funded warrant for a complete description of the terms and conditions of the pre-funded warrants.

Duration and Exercise Price. Each pre-funded warrant offered hereby will have an initial exercise price per share equal to $0.0001. The pre-funded warrants will be immediately exercisable and may be exercised at any time until the pre-funded warrants are exercised in full. The exercise price and number of shares of common stock issuable upon exercise is subject to appropriate adjustment in the event of stock dividends, stock splits, reorganizations or similar events affecting our common stock and the exercise price. The pre-funded warrants will be issued separately from the accompanying warrants, and may be transferred separately immediately thereafter.

Exercisability. The pre-funded warrants will be exercisable, at the option of each holder, in whole or in part, by delivering to us a duly executed exercise notice accompanied by payment in full for the number of shares of our common stock purchased upon such exercise (except in the case of a cashless exercise as discussed below). A holder (together with its affiliates) may not exercise any portion of the pre-funded warrant to the extent that the holder would own more than 4.99% of the outstanding common stock immediately after exercise, except that upon at least 61 days’ prior notice from the holder to us, the holder may increase the amount of ownership of outstanding stock after exercising the holder’s pre-funded warrants up to 9.99% of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the exercise, as such percentage ownership is determined in accordance with the terms of the pre-funded warrants. Purchasers of pre-funded warrants in this offering may also elect prior to the issuance of the pre-funded warrants to have the initial exercise limitation set at 9.99% of our outstanding common stock. No fractional shares of common stock will be issued in connection with the exercise of a pre-funded warrant. In lieu of fractional shares, we will either pay the holder an amount in cash equal to the fractional amount multiplied by the exercise price or round up to the next whole share.

Cashless Exercise. If, at the time a holder exercises its pre-funded warrants, a registration statement registering the issuance of the shares of common stock underlying the pre-funded warrants under the Securities Act is not then effective or available and an exemption from registration under the Securities Act is not available for the issuance of such shares, then in lieu of making the cash payment otherwise contemplated to be made to us upon such exercise in payment of the aggregate exercise price, the holder may elect instead to receive upon such exercise (either in whole or in part) the net number of shares of common stock determined according to a formula set forth in the pre-funded warrants.

Transferability. Subject to applicable laws, a pre-funded warrant may be transferred at the option of the holder upon surrender of the pre-funded warrant to us together with the appropriate instruments of transfer.

Exchange Listing. We do not intend to list the pre-funded warrants on the Nasdaq Capital Market or any other national securities exchange or nationally recognized trading system. The common stock issuable upon exercise of the pre-funded warrants is currently listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

Right as a Shareholder. Except as otherwise provided in the pre-funded warrants or by virtue of such holder’s ownership of shares of our common stock, the holders of the pre-funded warrants do not have the rights or privileges of holders of our common stock, including any voting rights, until they exercise their pre-funded warrants.

Fundamental Transaction. In the event of a fundamental transaction, as described in the pre-funded warrants and generally including any reorganization, recapitalization or reclassification of our common stock, the sale, transfer or other disposition of all or substantially all of our properties or assets, our consolidation or merger with or into another person, the acquisition of more than 50% of our outstanding common stock, or any person or group becoming the beneficial owner of 50% of the voting power represented by our outstanding common stock, the holders of the pre-funded warrants will be entitled to receive upon exercise of the pre-funded warrants the kind and amount of securities, cash or other property that the holders would have received had they exercised the pre-funded warrants immediately prior to such fundamental transaction.

Warrants

The following summary of certain terms and provisions of warrants that are being offered hereby is not complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by, the provisions of the warrant, the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Prospective investors should carefully review the terms and provisions of the form of warrant for a complete description of the terms and conditions of the warrants. 

Duration and Exercise Price. The warrants will have an exercise price of $0.23 (100% of the unit offering price). The exercise price is subject to appropriate adjustment in the event of certain stock dividends and distributions, stock splits, stock combinations, reclassifications or similar events affecting our common stock and also upon any distributions of assets, including cash, stock or other property to our stockholders. The warrants are exercisable immediately, and at any time up to the date that is five years after their original issuance.

Exercisability. The warrants will be exercisable, at the option of each holder, in whole or in part by delivering to us a duly executed exercise notice and, at any time a registration statement registering the issuance of the shares of common stock underlying the warrants under the Securities Act is effective and available for the issuance of such shares, or an exemption from registration under the Securities Act is available for the issuance of such shares, by payment in full in immediately available funds for the number of shares of common stock purchased upon such exercise. A holder will not have the right to exercise any portion of the warrant if the holder (together with its affiliates) would beneficially own in excess of 4.99% (or, upon election of the holder, 9.99%) of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the exercise, as such percentage ownership is determined in accordance with the terms of the warrants. However, any holder may increase or decrease such percentage, provided that any increase will not be effective until the 61st day after such election.

Cashless Exercise. If a registration statement registering the issuance of the shares of common stock underlying the  warrants under the Securities Act is not effective or available and an exemption from registration under the Securities Act is not available for the issuance of such shares, the holder may elect to exercise the warrant only through a cashless exercise, in which case the holder would receive upon such exercise the net number of shares of common stock determined according to the formula set forth in the warrant. No fractional shares of common stock will be issued in connection with the exercise of a warrant. In lieu of fractional shares, we will pay the holder an amount in cash equal to the fractional amount multiplied by the exercise price. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in the event we do not have or maintain an effective registration statement, there are no circumstances that would require us to make any cash payments or net cash settle the warrants to the holders.

Transferability. Subject to applicable laws, the warrants may be offered for sale, sold, transferred or assigned without our consent.

Exchange Listing. There is no established trading market for the warrants and we do not expect a market to develop. In addition, we do not intend to apply for the listing of the warrants on any national securities exchange or other trading market. Without an active trading market, the liquidity of the warrants will be limited.

Rights as a Shareholder. Except as otherwise provided in the warrants or by virtue of such holder’s ownership of shares of our common stock, the holder of a warrant does not have the rights or privileges of a holder of our common stock, including any voting rights, until the holder exercises the warrant.

Fundamental Transactions. If a fundamental transaction occurs, then the successor entity will succeed to, and be substituted for us, and may exercise every right and power that we may exercise and will assume all of our obligations under the warrants with the same effect as if such successor entity had been named in the warrant itself. If holders of our common stock are given a choice as to the securities, cash or property to be received in a fundamental transaction, then the holder shall be given the same choice as to the consideration it receives upon any exercise of the warrant following such fundamental transaction.

Equitable Treatment Adjustment. In the event we permit or provide for a downward adjustment to the conversion price of any portion of the Senior Convertible Notes, issued on October 5, 2021, other than a downward adjustment that simultaneously impacts the exercise price of the warrant, then the exercise price of the warrant shall be adjusted by the same percentage as the percentage downward adjustment of the conversion price of the Senior Convertible Notes. In addition, in the event we issue any debt following the date of the issuance of the warrant having a conversion price less than the exercise price, the proceeds of which are used to, in whole or in part, repay amounts owed under the Senior Convertible Notes, then upon the issuance of such debt, the exercise price of the warrant shall immediately be adjusted downward to be equal to such lower conversion price.

Election of Directors

Our Class I Directors hold office until the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders and are eligible for reelection at such meeting. Our Class II Directors held office until the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders and are eligible for reelection at such meeting. Our Class III Directors hold office until the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders and are eligible for reelection at such meeting. Directors are elected by a plurality of the votes cast at the annual meeting by the holders of common stock present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at such meeting. There is no cumulative voting for directors.

Anti-Takeover Provisions

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.

These provisions:

DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS

Business Overview

Akerna is a leading provider of enterprise software solutions within the cannabis industry. Cannabis businesses face significant complexity due to the stringent regulations and restrictions that shift based on regional, state, and national governing bodies. As the first to market more than ten years ago, Akerna’s family of software platforms help to enable regulatory compliance and inventory management across the entire supply chain. When the legal cannabis market started to grow, we identified a need for organic material tracking and regulatory compliance software as a service (SaaS) solution customized specifically for the unique needs of the industry. By providing an integrated ecosystem of applications and services that help our clients enable compliance, regulation, consumer safety and taxation, Akerna is building the technology backbone of the cannabis industry. While designed specifically for the unique needs of the cannabis market, our solutions are adaptable for other industries requiring government regulatory oversight, or where the tracking of organic materials from seed or plant to end products is desired.

Executing upon our expansion strategy, we acquire complementary cannabis brands to grow the scope of Akerna’s cannabis ecosystem. Since 2019, we have integrated six new brands into the Akerna product and service offering. Our first acquisition, Solo Sciences (“Solo”), was initiated in the fall of 2019, with the full acquisition completed in July 2020. We added Trellis Solutions (“Trellis”) to our portfolio on April 10, 2020 and finalized the acquisition of Ample Organics (“Ample”) and Last Call Analytics (“Last Call”) on July 7, 2020. More recently, on April 1, 2021 we completed our acquisition of Viridian Sciences Inc. (“Viridian”), a cannabis business management software system built on SAP Business One, followed by the acquisition of The NAV People, Inc. d.b.a 365 Cannabis (“365 Cannabis”), a cannabis business management software system built on Microsoft Business Central, on October 1, 2021. Through our growing family of companies, Akerna provides highly versatile platforms that equip our clients with a central data management system for tracking regulated products. Our solutions also provide clients with integrated security, transparency, and scalability capabilities, all while helping maintaining compliance with their governing regulations.

On the commercial side, our products help state-licensed businesses operate in compliance with applicable regional laws. Our integrated ecosystem provides integrations with third-party vendors and add-ons that enhance the capabilities of our commercial software platforms. On the regulatory side, we provide track and trace solutions that allow state governments to monitor compliance of licensed cannabis businesses. To date, our software has helped monitor the compliance of more than $30 billion in legal cannabis. While our software facilitates the success of legal cannabis businesses, we do not handle any cannabis-related material, do not process cannabis sales transactions within the United States (“U.S.”), and our revenue is generated from a fixed-fee based subscription and professional services model and is not related to the type or amount of sales made by our clients.

We drive revenue growth through the development of our product line, our acquisitions and from continued expansion of the cannabis, hemp, and CBD industry. Businesses across the regulated cannabis industry use our solutions. The brand recognition of our existing products, our ability to provide services in all areas of the seed-to-sale life cycle, and our wealth of relevant experience attracts cultivation, manufacturing, and dispensary clients who are seeking comprehensive business optimization solutions. Our software solutions are designed to be scalable, and while mid-market and smaller customers have historically been our primary target segment, we are focused on extending our customer reach to address the needs of the emerging enterprise level operator. We believe these larger multi-state/multi-vertical operations represent significant long-term future growth opportunities as the cannabis industry continues to consolidate at a rapid rate. The sophistication of our platform accommodates the complexities of both multi-vertical and multi-state business needs, making us critical partners and allowing us to cultivate long-term, successful relationships with our clients.

Our platforms provide licensed businesses with a true enterprise solution for managing their inventory and compliance and allow government regulators to engage in accurate and real-time compliance monitoring. Key capabilities of our technology infrastructure include:

Seed-to-Sale Tracking allows the tracking of products from cultivation, through harvest and processing and manufacturing, to the monitoring of the final sale to the patient or consumer. Our traceability technology captures every step in an individual plant’s life, providing visibility into the supply chain from any measurement of finished product dispensed to a patient or customer, back to the plant it came from, and all activity, transportation, and transactions that happen in between. While we do not provide payment processing, and never take, own, or handle any product or cash transaction, our platform records all sales as part of state and jurisdictional compliance Track-and-Trace processes. The data gathered throughout all of these processes is captured, and provides the insights and information needed to run an efficient and streamlined cannabis business. Seed-to-Sale software operates in a complementary relationship with state-mandated Track-and-Trace systems, replicating the reporting functionality and eliminating the need for operators to duplicate their compliance data into two disparate systems. Track-and-Trace systems are designed solely for government regulators to maintain compliance and do not have the sophistication or functionality to provide cannabis business owners with the insights and tools for effective business management. Our seed-to-sale platforms integrate with the state Track-and-Trace compliance system, reporting in the mandated data along the supply chain while also providing business owners with the capabilities to make informed business decisions based on the fully overview of their operations.

Track-and-Trace is the compliance reporting system used by regulatory bodies in most states. In order to adhere to their state-specific compliance regulations, cannabis operators are required to enter specific data points along the supply chain into the state-mandated track-and-trace system. By doing so, regulators can track the movement of cannabis inventory through the full supply chain, even when it moves between facilities or operators. The aggregated view that Track-and-Trace software seeks to ensure that the end product being sold has been grown, harvested, processed, transferred and sold compliantly, and provides assurance of safety to consumers.

Single System Integration allows state-licensed clients to manage inventory, customer records, and staff in one tracking system. MJ Platform and Leaf Data Systems platforms can be fully integrated with one another to create a streamlined Seed-to-Sale/Track-and-Trace solution. Additionally, our platforms can also be integrated with systems of numerous third-party suppliers. We have certified integrations with world class accounting solutions, including Sage, SAP, Microsoft and Netsuite.

Anti-Counterfeiting Technology. Solo sciences provides next-generation anti-counterfeiting technology fused with a direct communication system between brands and consumers. The solo sciences mission is to build confidence and establish trust among consumers, while enabling retailers and distributors to close the loop with creators and producers.

Cannabis Market Insights are curated using the anonymized data aggregated through our Seed-to-Sale platform for key industry intelligence. With over $30 billion in cannabis sales tracked over the past twelve years, we have cultivated a substantial legal cannabis dataset across 30+ states and multiple countries. This data provides a detailed overview of key industry trends, giving us the ability to provide banks, investors, researchers, cannabis businesses, and non-cannabis businesses with cannabis market intelligence and comparison data.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is a business process management software that manages and integrates a company’s financials, manufacturing, inventory, supply chain, operations, commerce, and reporting activities. ERP systems improve an operator’s efficiency and effectiveness by eliminating disparate systems, consolidating business critical information in a single location, reducing double entry data, and streamlining operations. ERP software solutions built for cannabis operators combine traditional accounting, manufacturing, inventory, and supply chain management with cannabis-specific track and trace and compliance functionality.

Using our years of experience, proprietary databases, and resources to identify trends and predict changes in the cannabis industry we evolve our products and better assist our clients in operating in compliance with the applicable laws of their jurisdictions and capitalizing on commercial opportunities within the applicable regulatory framework, with accuracy, efficiency, and geographic specificity. We have worked with clients and governments across the globe to create customized solutions that fit their specific regulatory and commercially compliant needs. While the majority of our clients are in the U.S. and Canada, our solutions allow cannabis businesses to operate efficiently in this fast-changing industry and comply with state, local, and federal (in countries such as Canada, Italy, Macedonia, and Colombia). Akerna and our family of companies is well-positioned to provide compliance solutions for the expanding national and international legal cannabis market.

Industry & Competition

We believe the growing cannabis industry in numerous U.S. states and other countries represents a significant market opportunity for our technology, as legally licensed operating companies need to ensure they operate within applicable laws and carefully track inventory. With democratic leadership and the new legislation passed during the 2020 election improving the outlook of the industry and a congress that is committed to push forward cannabis policy, the industry’s growth potential has large near-term upside. Since state governments require supply chain transparency to ensure compliance and the maintenance of the seed-to-sale life cycle within their jurisdictions, each new regulated jurisdiction offers an expanded market opportunity for Akerna. 

The regulated cannabis industry (medicinal and adult-use) is experiencing rapid growth. According to BDSA’s 2021 Essential Cannabis Insights, December 2021 Vol 4, Issue 10, legal cannabis sales in the U.S. passed $25 billion in 2021, growth of 40% over 2020’s $18 billion. BDSA’s Cannabis Market Forecast update from September 2021 noted sales are forecasted to rise to $46 billion in 2026, a CAGR of 14% from 2021. Global cannabis sales reached nearly $29 billion in 2021, an increase of 45% over 2020 sales of $20 billion. BDSA forecasts global cannabis sales will grow from $29 billion in 2021 to $61 billion in 2026, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 16%.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a positive effect on the growth and acceptance of the cannabis industry. Fitting into a non-cyclical, vice product category has worked to the industry’s advantage overall based on the 2020 sales data. Although many cannabis companies felt extremely adverse circumstances, and some were even forced to close or sell their businesses, this has accelerated a predictable M&A marketplace in which licenses are being acquired for a fraction of what they cost only 1 year ago. The largest Multi-State Operators (MSOs) are growing and financing faster than ever before. For example, Curaleaf, one of the largest MSOs, opened their 100th retail location in February 2021. As a result of the current M&A marketplace, the landscape is beginning to position itself in a similar way that the alcohol industry has, with major companies controlling a vast majority of market share. Akerna is positioned as an enterprise-level offering to address the needs of these large MSOs that continue to grow through consolidation. The addition of the MJ Analytics seed-to-sale reporting engine, built on the architecture of leading business intelligence platform, Domo, further positions Akerna as an enterprise-level solution.

Further to our current addressable market, the regulatory changes in the 2018 Farm Bill in the U.S. have created an opportunity for hemp-based CBD in general retail and pharmaceutical channels. Additionally, multiple countries across the world have legalized hemp for growth and export including Canada, China, Italy, Australia, and South Korea. In the U.S., hemp-derived CBD is available broadly across retailers (not solely licensed cannabis dispensaries), including online, drug and convenience stores, natural product, beauty, grocery, and pet stores. According to Grand View Research, Industrial Hemp Market Analysis, The global cannabidiol market size was valued at USD 2.8 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.2% from 2021 to 2028.

The unfortunate events of the 2019 vape scare in the U.S. prompted regulatory changes and additional requirements, including anti-counterfeiting tags and codes. With major investment and partnership with Solo, Akerna has provided a solution to address the issue for both regulators and operators. The combined supply chain transparency solution was chosen by the State of Utah, requiring all medical dispensary products to be validated. Markets and Markets projects that the anti-counterfeit packaging market size will grow from $105.9 billion in 2018 to $182.2 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 11.5%. The anti-counterfeit packaging market is projected to witness high growth due to the increasing focus of manufacturers on brand protection to reduce counterfeiting. By leveraging this investment, we strengthen our current addressable market with an essential compliance tool.

The cannabis industry is a fast-growing, increasingly complex, and rapidly changing landscape. Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics note that the range of regulatory schemes is wide, and fines for non-compliance are steep. Proper, safe, and profitable operation of a cannabis business requires a full understanding of applicable laws, the ability to track plants and products to ensure compliance with these laws, and the ability to operate at scale in a competitive environment.

Competitive Landscape

The competitive set within the cannabis technology and consulting space has traditionally been comprised of several smaller and specialized companies with limited access to capital. As part of our growth strategy, we may seek to acquire assets or companies that are synergistic with our business. We have built a scalable infrastructure to support both rapid organic growth and targeted acquisitions. By providing the full seed-to-sale solution, we believe we are well-positioned to be an acquirer of cannabis technology solutions throughout the supply chain. We compete with numerous technology and consulting companies that offer services that are similar to some of our services including, but not limited to, Acumatica, BDS Analytics, BioTrackTHC, Canna Advisors, Cova Cannabis, Dutchie, Flowhub, Headset, Jane, Metrc, New Frontier Data, Nextec, 3C, Treez, and TILT Holdings.

We face competition in each of the revenue segments in which we operate. We believe, however, that we possess relative strengths in each segment that provide us with competitive advantages, including:

Range of Services

We believe we possess a unique viewpoint into the industry because we offer solutions to, and work with, both commercial businesses and government regulatory agencies towards the common goal of ensuring regulatory compliance and real-time monitoring of inventory and sales. We offer a complete range of both software and services to meet these needs for both state governments and commercial businesses. While we do not face competition from firms focusing on specific subsets of our markets, there are a very limited number of competitors providing products or services that compete with our complete range of products and services. We compete with software companies offering a product to businesses only in a certain geographic region or of a certain business type. We also compete with consulting firms serving a specific phase of the cannabis plant life cycle.

Industry Knowledge and Experience

Our management personnel have extensive technical and business operations knowledge and experience within the cannabis and technology industries, which has been developed through numerous years of service in key roles with a broad range of both cannabis and technology companies, both in terms of product and service type and size. We leverage this knowledge and experience to guide our product and service development and delivery. Our management team possesses significant compliance expertise, allowing us to continually monitor changes in legislation and regulation within the markets we and our clients operate. We face competition from companies that have teams with technical expertise or cannabis industry experience, but there are a limited number of competitors who have both and who understand the interplay between software and technology development and the application of the same to the evolving cannabis compliance landscape.

Proprietary Databases

Twelve years of operations have provided us with a statistically significant dataset of cannabis transaction information that we believe cannot be readily duplicated by new entrants into the marketplace. This growing database includes proprietary sales, market trends, customer preferences, pricing, and regulatory data. We use this dataset to predict trends more accurately in the marketplace and make this dataset available to users of our platforms, providing greater utility to clients in this regard than can be provided by competing platforms.

Products and Solutions

Software

SMB Market:

Akerna’s suite of small and medium business (“SMB” or “Non-Enterprise”) products including MJ Platform, Ample Organics, and Trellis provide SaaS offerings for legal cannabis, hemp and CBD businesses. We provide government-licensed cultivators, manufacturers, distributors, and retail dispensaries with a data-driven seed-to-sale tracking platform that provides clients with an enterprise resource planning solution for managing their inventory and regulatory compliance. Akerna’s products and ecosystem of connections are used by clients to compliantly track inventory through all phases of the seed-to-sale cycle - from cultivation to extraction and infusion to packaging, distribution and retail sales. Data points are collected at every stage of the product life cycle and about multiple aspects of the plant’s growing environment, manufacturing processes, and ingredients, as well as retail pricing and purchase data. In Canada, the first G7 country with a federally legal market, we have a pharmacy portal and insurance adjudication.

We service licensed operators in all verticals of the industry, including cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail dispensaries. We have significant client presence for our commercial software solutions in mature cannabis markets such as Arizona, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Utah, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Puerto Rico, as well as Canada.

We have exclusivity in the Pennsylvania and Utah markets due to our government contracts, which require operators in the states to use MJ Platform.

Solo Sciences - Anti-counterfeiting Technology

Solo is a technology provider for legal cannabis businesses with a focus on providing a cannabis tracking technology that provides seed-to-sale-to-self data throughout a product’s life cycle and empowers consumers with the ability to confirm the quality and authenticity of a product they have purchased.

Solo uses proprietary technology to place a unique encrypted arrangement of patterns, the solo*TAG^TM or solo*CODE^TM, onto individual packaging labels. Solo technology is significantly lower cost and more secure than traditional tagging technologies like radio-frequency identification. The technology includes a free consumer mobile application, granting end-users and regulatory agencies the ability to track products in the supply chain, verify their authenticity, and learn more detailed information about the product such as its origins and ingredients.

The Solo technology platform also enables brands to connect directly with consumers. Through it, product creators can provide end-users with push notifications, targeted news, product insights, loyalty points, etc. Brands embrace the platform as it enables them to increase their revenues and create a more tailored marketing experience. Clients benefit from product incentives while gaining trust in the products they are buying and consuming.

Solo has developed several key partnerships including the Utah Department of Health and Department of Agriculture, through Akerna’s Leaf Data Systems contract including solo*TAG^TM,, a key tagging and technology component in a closed-loop system used by all Utah cannabis licensees as the state’s primary tracking system at the retail, wholesale, cultivation, and manufacturing levels.

Enterprise Market:

Akerna’s Enterprise product suite provides a comprehensive vertically integrated cannabis ERP and business management software system with a choice of being built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central platform or the SAP Business One platform. Our enterprise products were built by cannabis experts with cannabis-specific functionality built into the core of the solution and are designed to meet present and future needs of growing businesses. The software solutions allow business clients to manage their entire operations from cultivation to retail and incorporates Cultivation, Production, Global Compliance, QC, Finance, Dispensing & Retail, CRM, Warehousing, Distribution, Multi-Facility, Multi-Company, Multi-Entity, Language, Currency and more with a client base comprised of leading U.S.-based MSOs and single-state operators, and Canadian LPs, in addition to global cannabis clients outside North America. Our enterprise offerings leverage shared Akerna infrastructure for access to Akerna’s broad ecosystem of offerings and to facilitate compliance with our up-to-date regulatory integrations, unparalleled state and country reporting knowledge, and dedicated team of compliance experts.

Government Market:

Leaf Data Systems - Government Regulatory Software

Leaf Data Systems is our SaaS product for government agencies. Leaf Data Systems provides regulatory authorities with visibility into the operations of licensed medical and recreational cannabis businesses. Government regulators desire visibility at critical junctures within the seed-to-sale chain of custody in order to ensure public safety, monitor sales data for the purposes of taxation, and perform physical inspections of cannabis industry facilities. Leaf Data Systems allows for specific data points captured during these workflows to be compiled into the state and regional view retrievable by regulatory officials.

Licensed cannabis facilities within a state can track plant and product movement and waste across their organization, which is processed into reporting tailored to the government agencies that regulate and enforce the rules of the industry. This gives regulators a tool for transparency and accountability across the cannabis supply chain to ensure public and product safety as well as to monitor sales and inventory within the industry. Leaf Data Systems is customized to the regulations of the state in which it is contracted and tailored to capture the relevant data points desired by regulatory officials.

As of the date of this report, Leaf Data Systems serves two state clients, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of Utah. The State of Utah mandates the use of our proprietary solo*TAG^TM the world’s first cryptographically-secure, cannabis product authentication system, exclusively for governments as an alternative to radio-frequency identification tracking. This customized system includes an electronic verification and inventory control system to track plants and products throughout the compliance supply chain.

Business Intelligence and Data Analytics Products

We have four data products: MJ Analytics (“MJA”); and Akerna Acumen Big Data, which both leverage the extensive data captured in each of MJ Platform’s cultivation, E&I, distribution, and retail modules; AmpleData, which leverages data obtained through Canadian regulated retail channels; and Last Call Analytics, which provides retail sales analytics for alcohol brands.

MJ Analytics

MJA gives MJ Platform clients access to aggregate data across their organization to keep track of emerging legal and commercial trends, allowing for informed actionable insights at various levels within the organization, including room, location, state, brand, and administration. MJ Platform allows users to align their operational data from three vantage points: in real-time, past trends, and predictive future. This proprietary database assists the user in making important decisions in real-time with respect to product monitoring, tracking, planning, and pricing.

Built in partnership with Domo and Snowflake, MJA is monetized through the provision of Data Analytics subscriptions to clients. We typically grant a limited, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable license to use our industry data for internal management, reporting, and business optimization purposes. The information typically supplied to clients is aggregated and anonymized information regarding products, which may or may not be those of the client, sold through sales generated through our online service platforms.

Akerna Acumen Business Intelligence 

We have cultivated a substantial legal cannabis dataset with over $30 billion in sales tracked and twelve years of data across 30+ states and multiple countries. With the contractual ability to aggregate and anonymize this data, we have launched the Akerna Acumen product to provide banks, investors, researchers, cannabis businesses, and non-cannabis businesses with cannabis market intelligence and valuable market comparison data. The data is available in various formats and is available with updates as frequently as daily.

Last Call Analytics & Ample Data

Ample’s wholly owned subsidiary, Last Call Analytics (“LCA”), is a retail analytics platform designed for the beverage alcohol industry, with a focus on allowing our clients to use data to empower retail operations and generate revenue growth. The platform ingests sales and product data from a wide variety of sources, normalizes and homogenizes the dataset, and displays the resultant analysis in a proprietary application. 

With the underlying technologies built by LCA, Ample has created AmpleData, a retail analytics platform for the cannabis industry that applies the same proven solution to data streams ingested from various points within the regulated supply chain. Ample Data is designed to provide key insights for Canadian cannabis license holders, cannabis agencies and government regulators.

Cannabis Business Consulting

We provide project-focused consulting services to clients that are initiating or expanding their cannabis businesses or are interested in data consulting engagements regarding the legal cannabis industry. We typically provide our consulting services to clients in emerging markets that are seeking consultation on newly introduced licensing regimes and assistance with the regulatory compliant build-out of operations in newly opened states.

Entering the cannabis industry is a significant undertaking. We work with clients to efficiently comply with state requirements in connection with the launch and operations of their cannabis businesses. Our management and key personnel bring deep cannabis industry experience to us. Our management team and key personnel have broad experience gained from working with numerous cannabis businesses, with operational experience across every vertical (e.g., cultivation, processing, and retail). Our team members have previously managed projects, including cultivation facilities exceeding 100,000 square feet, retail operations with locations in multiple states, and online businesses serving an entire country.

Competitive Advantage

Partner API. We host an open API ecosystem and are continually developing and maintaining an extensive collection of integrations that are designed to connect our solutions to over 80 partners, provide full-service solutions at all points in the cannabis business life cycle, including compliance, hardware, banking, accounting, online ordering, payment solutions, CRM and loyalty, delivery, and business analytics. We believe these integrations provide a competitive advantage as they reduce implementation time, effort, and cost while providing a holistic cannabis solution; We have certified API integration with tier one ERP software providers supplying sophisticated accounting solutions that collect and store business transactions to satisfy external reporting requirements. Additionally, we leverage revenue sharing agreements and referral programs with our strategic partners to further grow our business and our revenue.

Technology. As the inventors of Seed-To-Sale technology, our proprietary platform is an AWS cloud-based software solution. We offer specialized cannabis workflows specific to the needs of the industry. We serve all verticals of the cannabis supply chain (cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, retail and delivery). We are one of the few true, single-platform Seed-To-Sale solutions in the cannabis space, and the sophistication of our technology allows us to uniquely scale across legal markets. Our platform has processed over $30 billion in legal cannabis sales, with speed, reliability, and security capabilities designed to serve the needs of even the largest of enterprise customers. Compliance with state regulations is built into our platform infrastructure, assisting clients in their efforts to operate within the regulation parameters of their individual markets. The business insights provided by the data collection throughout the supply chain enables businesses to optimize their operations and make crucial data-driven decisions for their business. These insights are easily analyzed and made actionable by our MJ Analytics module, built in partnership with Domo, a leading BI platform.

Learning Management System. Through our license with ZolTrain, we are able to provide our Akerna clients with training modules to educate and on-board their staff and improve the patient /consumer experience by pairing education with product information both in person and through digital channels. The Zoltrain platform allows cannabis employees to self-direct their own learning and certification through an Akerna specific curriculum, and their employers are able to monitor and track their progress, assisting clients in ensuring that their staff is fully trained and knowledgeable about the software they are required to use within their job functions. This is one of the only LMS platforms specifically designed both for the industry and for our software. It provides detailed notes, takeaways, scored exams and certificates of completion, ensuring staff knows their Seed-To-Sale software inside and out. Zoltrain modules are dynamic, and can be easily updated to accommodate new content or education on new product offerings. The AmpleLearn platform is a similar onboarding and education tool developed for Ample Organics clients to assist with building their proficiency using the software in Canada. Similar to Zoltrain, AmpleLearn is built on industry tested content within a dynamic learning environment. There are assessments, progress reports and certifications that are all available to both the employee and their supervisor. The AmpleLearn product is maintained by the internal team at Ample Organics, ensuring that the content is always up-to-date with the most recent software upgrades and functionality.

Strategy

We intend to leverage our scale and capital markets access to pursue additional growth through organic initiatives and to pursue our ecosystem strategy which leverages integrations, partnerships, and inorganic growth. We believe having a scaled ecosystem gives us more opportunities to leverage our footprint and increase wallet share by providing more value to our clients through having what we believe is the most robust cannabis technology suite available. We intend to pursue additional growth through organic initiatives, including increased marketing personnel and resources, acquisitions, and strategic relationships.

Customers 

Businesses across the cannabis and hemp industries and of all sizes, ranging from small, single location/ single vertical businesses to multi-state enterprise operations, use the Akerna family of solutions. The cannabis industry is still very much in its infancy compared to more established markets, and as it matures, we are seeing a shift in the typical business model. In the beginning, most operators only managed a single location, or a single vertical operation, and therefore many of our longer-standing clients fall into the small to mid-market size business. Over the past few years, and significantly expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are witnessing large-scale, rapid consolidation within the industry. Many of the original small licensees are being purchased and assumed into larger, multi-state, enterprise level organizations. Our software solutions are designed to be scalable, and as we see this shift in the market, we are focused on extending our customer reach to address the needs of the emerging enterprise level operator. We believe these larger multi-state/multi-vertical operations represent significant long-term future growth opportunities as the cannabis industry continues to consolidate. As more states legalize, these operators are identifying future growth opportunities into these expanded legal markets and need a software solution that can grow with them.

Sales and Marketing 

We sell our solutions primarily on a subscription basis with module-based and user-seat pricing, allowing businesses to customize their solution based on their specific business model or vertical. With our integrations to major accounting solutions and cannabis service providers, we are able to customize solutions for all sizes and types of businesses. To gain market share and expand beyond the small to mid- size market, Akerna invests in specialized go-to-market strategies for sales and marketing unique to each state and customer segment.

Our omnichannel marketing program, which includes paid and unpaid digital advertising, event marketing, account-based marketing, content marketing, prospect database nurturing, and other digital marketing activities, is designed to capture inbound marketing leads. We also leverage our expertise and industry intelligence to identify and engage directly with our prospective customers, especially at the enterprise level. Additionally, we have a broad ecosystem of partners across the cannabis industry and have selectively implemented referral and revenue sharing opportunities with the key players.

We reach each market segment, from emerging small business to enterprise, through channels and tactics that match their expectations for content, outreach, timeliness, and service level. This can require high touch service for some enterprise customers, with more a traditional purchase path for the smallest companies. We hire and train both sales and marketing professionals specialized for the market and the customer segment.

For growth in the regulatory and consulting side, we stay current on emerging legal markets, both nationally and globally to actively conduct outreach and education programs to engage with state regulators and business owners. This strategy strongly supports the growth of our consulting client bases, as we provide license application assistance in new markets, and require in-depth understanding of the regulatory guidelines to be able to successfully win licenses for our customers. We leverage our expertise to provide thought-leadership and industry guidance in order to gain recognition as a leader in the space.

Government Regulation 

Cannabis and Cannabis-derived Products

We do not grow, handle, process, or sell cannabis or cannabis-derived products, nor do we ever possess any such material or process any transactions related to the sale of the same. We only provide a technology platform for our clients to assist them with their compliance with state law and to monitor and control their inventory in compliance with state regulatory environments. We do not receive any commissions from sale by our clients and our revenue generation is not based on the sales of cannabis products by our clients, but rather we generate revenues through a fixed-fee based subscription and professional services revenue model. We are not directly subject to state or federal government drug regulation and our products are only intended to be used to assist with compliance with applicable state laws, under which our clients operate.

Our clients are subject to state and federal law as it relates to cannabis growth, processing, and sale. 37 U.S. states have legalized cannabis in some form. The federal government regulates drugs through the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) (21 U.S.C. § 811), which does not recognize the difference between medical and recreational use of cannabis. State laws regulating cannabis are in direct conflict with the CSA, which prohibits cannabis use and possession. Although certain states and territories authorize medical or recreational cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, production, distribution, and sales by licensed or registered entities, under federal law, the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, possession, use, and transfer of cannabis and any related drug paraphernalia, unless specifically exempt, is illegal and any such acts are criminal acts under the CSA.

While the U.S. Department of Justice has used prosecutorial discretion to not prioritize enforcement actions against state-legal cannabis businesses that are compliant with state, county, municipal and other local laws and regulations and which do not trigger any other federal enforcement priorities, the Department of Justice reserves the right to enforce federal law and there can be no assurance that the federal government will not enforce the CSA and related federal laws in the future. Any shift in enforcement priority at the Department of Justice or with the individual U.S. Attorneys with jurisdiction over our clients, could have a drastic and adverse impact upon our clients and our business.  

While we do not grow, handle, process or sell cannabis or cannabis-derived products, our receipt of funds from clients that do conduct such operations in violation of federal law exposes us to risks related to federal racketeering laws. The Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) is a federal statute providing criminal penalties in addition to a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. Under RICO, it is unlawful for any person who has received income derived from a pattern of racketeering activity (which includes most felonious violations of the CSA), to use or invest any of that income in the acquisition of any interest, or the establishment or operation of, any enterprise which is engaged in interstate commerce. RICO also authorizes private parties whose properties or businesses are harmed by such patterns of racketeering activity to initiate a civil action against the individuals involved. Although RICO suits against the cannabis industry are rare, a few cannabis businesses have been subject to a civil RICO action.

Our receipt of payments from clients engaged in state-legal cannabis operations could also subject us to the consequences of a variety of federal laws and regulations that involve money laundering, financial record keeping and proceeds of crime, including the Bank Secrecy Act, as amended by Title III of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act) and any related or similar rules, regulations or guidelines, issued, administered or enforced by the federal government. Because the funds from activities that are illegal under the CSA, banks and other financial institutions providing services to us risk violation of federal anti-money laundering statutes (18 U.S.C. §§ 1956 and 1957), the unlicensed money-remitter statute (18 U.S.C. § 1960) and the Bank Secrecy Act, among other applicable federal statutes. Banks often refuse to provide banking services to businesses involved in the cannabis industry due to the present state of federal laws and regulations governing financial institutions. The lack of banking and financial services presents unique and significant challenges to businesses in the cannabis industry and we may experience similar difficulties in obtaining and maintaining regular banking and financial services because of the activities of our clients.

Any violations of federal laws and regulations could result in significant fines, penalties, administrative sanctions, convictions or settlements arising from civil proceedings conducted by either the federal government or private citizens or criminal charges, including but not limited to, seizure of assets, disgorgement of profits, cessation of business activities or divestiture. In the event that any of our operations, or any proceeds thereof, any dividends or distributions therefrom, or any profits or revenues accruing from such operations were found to be in violation of money laundering legislation or otherwise, such transactions may be viewed as proceeds of crime under one or more of the statutes noted above or any other applicable legislation. This could restrict or otherwise jeopardize our ability to declare or pay dividends or effect other distributions. Furthermore, while there are no current intentions to declare or pay dividends in the foreseeable future, in the event that a determination was made that our proceeds from operations (or any future operations) could reasonably be shown to constitute proceeds of crime, we may decide or be required to suspend declaring or paying dividends without advance notice and for an indefinite period of time.

Privacy & Customer Data

Regulation related to the provision of services over the Internet is evolving, as federal, state, and foreign governments continue to adopt new, or modify existing, laws and regulations addressing data privacy and the collection, processing, storage, transfer, and use of data. In some cases, data privacy laws and regulations, such as the European Union’s (“EU”) General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) that took effect in May 2018, impose new obligations directly on us as both a data controller and a data processor, as well as on many of our clients. In addition, domestic data privacy laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which took effect in January 2020, continue to evolve and could expose us to further regulatory burdens. Further, laws such as the EU’s proposed e-Privacy Regulation are increasingly aimed at the use of personal information for marketing purposes and the tracking of individuals’ online activities.

Although we monitor the regulatory environment and have invested in addressing these developments, such as GDPR and CCPA readiness, these laws may require us to make additional changes to our services to enable us or our clients to meet the new legal requirements, and may also increase our potential liability exposure through higher potential penalties for non-compliance. These new or proposed laws and regulations are subject to differing interpretations and may be inconsistent among jurisdictions. These and other requirements could reduce demand for our services, require us to take on more onerous obligations in our contracts, restrict our ability to store, transfer, and process data or, in some cases, impact our ability or our clients’ ability to offer our services in certain locations, to deploy our solutions, to reach current and prospective customers, or to derive insights from customer data globally. The costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, privacy laws, regulations, and standards may limit the use and adoption of our services, reduce overall demand for our services, make it more difficult to meet expectations from or commitments to clients, lead to significant fines, penalties or liabilities for non-compliance, impact our reputation, or slow the pace at which we close sales transactions, any of which could harm our business.

Furthermore, the uncertain and shifting regulatory environment and trust climate may cause concerns regarding data privacy and may cause our clients or our clients’ customers to resist providing the data necessary to allow our clients to use our services effectively. Even the perception that the privacy of personal information is not satisfactorily protected or does not meet regulatory requirements could inhibit sales of our products or services and could limit the adoption of our cloud-based solutions.

Patents and Trademarks

We primarily rely upon a combination of confidentiality procedures, contractual provisions, copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret laws, and other similar measures to protect our proprietary information and intellectual property. 

We hold 2 patents in the U.S., through Solo, related to its Solo*ID proprietary technology. One patent has an issue date of December 1, 2009 and is set to expire on December 1, 2029. The other patent has an issue date of May 31, 2011 and is set to expire on July 11, 2025. We also have 2 patent applications that are currently pending action by the U.S. Patent Office. One was filed on April 22, 2011 by MJF and the other was filed on January 22, 2022 related to Solo blockchain technology.

We and our wholly-owned subsidiaries hold 19 trademarks in the U.S., principally related to Akerna, MJ Freeway, Leaf Data Systems, our Daily Dose mailer, Solo*ID and our logos and designs, 7 in Canada, principally related to Ample, AmpleCentral, AmpleData, AmpleExchange and Ample’s logos and designs and 1 in Colombia, 1 in Jamaica and 1 on EUIPO related to Ample’s logo and designs. 

Employees

As of December 31, 2021, we had 204 full time employees. Of these employees, 157 were based in the U.S. and 47 were based in Canada. Our workforce is highly educated, with most of our employees working in engineering, technical, or professional roles. None of our employees are a member of a union or a party to any collective bargaining agreement. We believe our employee relations are good. On May 27, 2022, the Company announced its implementation of certain expense reduction measures, approved by the Company’s board of directors on May 24, 2022, including a reduction of the Company’s workforce by 59 full-time employees, or approximately 33% of the Company. See “Recent Developments” above for more information.

Company Information

Emerging Growth Company

We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, (the “JOBS Act”) because we went public in the U.S. in January 2018 and meet the criteria outlined in the JOBS Act. We will remain an emerging growth company until up to the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering, or until the earliest of  (i) the last day of the first fiscal year in which our annual gross revenue exceeds $1.07 billion, (ii) the date that we become a “large accelerated filer” as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter or (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt during the preceding three-year period. As allowed by the JOBS Act, we have elected to utilize the extended transition period provided to non-public companies for complying with new or revised accounting standards.

DESCRIPTION OF PROPERTY

Our corporate headquarters are located in Denver, Colorado, although we do not lease or own any real property associated with our corporate headquarters as our workforce is primarily remote. We have one facility that we lease in Las Vegas, Nevada which serves as office space for our Las Vegas based employees. We believe that our existing facilities are adequate for our current needs and that suitable additional or alternative space would be available to us to lease on commercially reasonable terms if and when we need it.  

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

We are not a party to any material pending legal proceedings, and no such proceedings are known to be contemplated.

From time to time, we may become involved in other legal proceedings or be subject to claims arising in the ordinary course of our business. Regardless of the outcome of any existing or future litigation, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources, and other factors.

MARKET FOR COMMON EQUITY AND RELATED SHAREHOLDER MATTERS

Market Information

Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the trading symbol “KERN”. As of June 28, 2022, we had 36,796,522 shares of common stock issued and outstanding and approximately 240 registered shareholders. Because many of our shares of common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of shareholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of shareholders represented by these record holders.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Company and Affiliates

None.

2019 Long Term Incentive Plan Summary

The purpose of the Incentive Plan is to enable Akerna to offer its employees, officers, directors and consultants whose past, present and/or potential future contributions to Akerna have been, are, or will be important to its success, an opportunity to acquire a proprietary interest in Akerna. The various types of incentive awards that may be provided under the Incentive Plan are intended to enable Akerna to respond to changes in compensation practices, tax laws, accounting regulations and the size and diversity of its business.

Plan Administration

The Incentive Plan is administered by the compensation committee of the Akerna Board (the “Compensation Committee”) or by the full Akerna Board, which may determine, among other things, (1) the persons who are to receive awards, (2) the type or types of awards to be granted to such persons, (3) the number of shares of common stock to be covered by, or with respect to what payments, rights, or other matters are to be calculated in connection with the awards, (4) the terms and conditions of any awards, (5) whether, to what extent, and under what circumstances awards may be settled or exercised in cash, shares of common stock, other securities, other awards or other property, or cancelled, forfeited, or suspended and the method or methods by which awards may be settled, exercised, cancelled, forfeited, or suspended, (6) whether, to what extent, and under what circumstances the delivery of cash, shares of common stock, other securities, other awards or other property and other amounts payable with respect to an award, and (7) make any other determination and take any other action that the Compensation Committee deems necessary or desirable for the administration of the Incentive Plan.

Stock Options

Stock options granted under the Incentive Plan may be of two types: (i) Incentive Stock Options (as defined in the Incentive Plan) and (ii) Non-qualified Stock Options (as defined in the Incentive Plan). Any stock option granted under the Incentive Plan shall contain such terms, as the Compensation Committee may from time to time approve.

The term of each stock option shall be fixed by the Compensation Committee; provided, however, that no stock option may be exercisable after the expiration of ten years from the date of grant; provided, further, that no Incentive Stock Option granted to a person who, at the time of grant, owns stock possessing more than 10% of the total combined voting power of all classes of voting stock of Akerna (“10% Shareholder”) may be exercisable after the expiration of five years from the date of grant.

The exercise price per share purchasable under a stock option shall be determined by the Compensation Committee at the time of grant; provided, however, that the exercise price of a stock option may not be less than 100% of the fair market value on the date of grant; provided, further, that the exercise price of an Incentive Stock Option granted to a 10% Shareholder may not be less than 110% of the fair market value on the date of grant.

Stock Appreciation Rights

The Compensation Committee may grant Stock Appreciation Rights in tandem with a stock option or alone and unrelated to a stock option. The Compensation Committee may grant stock appreciation rights to participants who have been or are being granted stock options under the Incentive Plan as a means of allowing such participants to exercise their stock options without the need to pay the exercise price in cash. In the case of a Non-qualified Stock Option, a stock appreciation right may be granted either at or after the time of the grant of such Non-qualified Stock Option. In the case of an Incentive Stock Option, a stock appreciation right may be granted only at the time of the grant of such Incentive Stock Option. Stock appreciation rights shall be exercisable as shall be determined by the Compensation Committee. All or a portion of a stock appreciation right granted in tandem with a stock option shall terminate and shall no longer be exercisable upon the termination or after the exercise of the applicable portion of the related stock option.

Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Units

Shares of restricted stock may be awarded either alone or in addition to other awards granted under the Incentive Plan. The Compensation Committee shall determine the eligible persons to whom, and the time or times at which, grants of restricted stock will be awarded, the number of shares to be awarded, the price (if any) to be paid by the holder, any restriction period, the vesting schedule and rights to acceleration thereof, and all other terms and conditions of the awards. In addition, the Compensation Committee may award restricted stock units, which may be subject to vesting and forfeiture conditions during the applicable restriction period, as set forth in an agreement.

Restricted stock constitutes issued and outstanding shares of common stock for all corporate purposes. The holder will have the right to vote such restricted stock and to exercise all other rights, powers and privileges of a holder of common stock with respect to such restricted stock, subject to certain limited exceptions. Upon the expiration of the restriction period with respect to each award of restricted stock and the satisfaction of any other applicable restrictions, terms and conditions, all or part of such restricted stock shall become vested in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Any restricted stock that do not vest shall be forfeited to Akerna and the holder shall not thereafter have any rights with respect to such restricted stock.

The Compensation Committee may provide that settlement of restricted stock units will occur upon or as soon as reasonably practicable after the restricted stock units vest or will instead be deferred, on a mandatory basis or at the holder’s election, in a manner intended to comply with tax laws. A Holder will have no rights of a holder of common stock with respect to shares subject to any restricted stock unit unless and until the shares are delivered in settlement of the restricted stock unit. If the Committee provides, a grant of restricted stock units may provide a holder with the right to receive dividend equivalents.

Other Stock-Based Awards

Other Stock-Based Awards may be awarded, subject to limitations under applicable law, that are denominated or payable in, valued in whole or in part by reference to, or otherwise based on or related to, shares of common stock, as deemed by the Compensation Committee to be consistent with the purposes of the Incentive Plan, including, without limitation, purchase rights, shares of common stock awarded that are not subject to any restrictions or conditions, convertible or exchangeable debentures, or other rights convertible into shares of common stock and awards valued by reference to the value of securities of or the performance of specified subsidiaries.

Change of Control Provisions

The Incentive Plan provides that in the event of a change of control event, (1) all of the then outstanding options and stock appreciation rights granted pursuant to the Incentive Plan will immediately vest and become immediately exercisable as of a time prior to the change in control and (2) any performance goal restrictions related to an award will be deemed achieved at 100% of target levels and all other conditions met as of a time prior to the change in control. In the event of the sale of all of Akerna’s assets or a change of control event, then the Compensation Committee may (1) accelerate the vesting of any and all Stock Options and other awards granted and outstanding under the Incentive Plan; (2) require a holder of outstanding options to relinquish such award to Akerna upon the tender by Akerna to holder of cash, stock or other property, or any combination thereof pursuant to the terms of the Incentive Plan and (3) terminate all incomplete performance periods in respect of awards in effect on the date the acquisition occurs, determine the extent to which performance goals have been met based upon such information then available as it deems relevant and cause to be paid to the holder all or the applicable portion of the award based upon the Compensation Committee’s determination of the degree of attainment of performance goals, or on such other basis determined by the Compensation Committee.

The Akerna Board may at any time, and from time to time, amend alter, suspend or discontinue any of the provisions of the Incentive Plan, but no amendment, alteration, suspension or discontinuance shall be made that would impair the rights of a holder under any agreement theretofore entered into hereunder, without the holder’s consent, except as set forth in this Incentive Plan or the agreement. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, no amendment to the provisions of the Incentive Plan shall be effective unless approved by the stockholders of Akerna to the extent stockholder approval is necessary to satisfy any provision of the Ethics Code or other applicable law or the listing requirements of any national securities exchange on which Akerna’s securities are listed.

Equity Compensation Plans

The following table  provides information as of December 31, 2021, with respect to the shares of our common stock that may be issued under our existing equity compensation plans:

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions.  Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including, but not limited to, those set forth under “Risk Factors” and “Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” above.

Akerna is the leading provider of enterprise software solutions within the cannabis industry. By providing an integrated ecosystem of applications and services that enables compliance, regulation, consumer safety and taxation, Akerna is building the technology backbone of the cannabis industry. Our solutions provide clients with integrated security, transparency, and scalability capabilities, all while maintaining compliance with their governing regulations.

We intend to leverage our scale and capital markets access to pursue additional growth through organic initiatives and to pursue our ecosystem strategy which leverages integrations, partnerships, and inorganic growth. We believe having a scaled ecosystem gives us more opportunities to leverage our footprint and increase wallet share by providing more value to our clients through having what we believe is the most robust cannabis technology suite available. We intend to pursue additional growth through organic initiatives, including increased marketing personnel and resources, acquisitions, and strategic relationships. We will continue scaling our platform for continued growth, adding new features and functionality, supporting new products and content types, and improving the user experience.

We offer our software solutions to our customers as a subscription-based service. Subscription fees are based upon the chosen package which includes differentiated platform capabilities, support and user accounts. As customers recognize the value of our platform, we increasingly engage with them to facilitate broad adoption across other parts of their business.

We believe having a scaled ecosystem gives us more opportunities to leverage our footprint and increase wallet share by providing more value to our clients through having what we believe is the most robust cannabis technology suite available. In order to accelerate customer growth, we intend to pursue additional initiatives, including increased marketing personnel and resources, acquisitions, and strategic relationships. We believe we are underpenetrated in the overall market and have significant opportunity to expand our customer base over time.

We have invested in professional services, customer support and customer success functions to support our sales force by helping customers successfully deploy our platform. We actively engage with our customers to assess whether they are satisfied and fully realizing the benefits of our platform. While these efforts often require a substantial commitment and upfront costs, we believe our investment in product, customer support, customer success and professional services will create opportunities to expand our customer relationships over time.

We plan to continue to make investments in areas of our business to continue to expand our platform functionality to enhance current offerings and build new features.

On April 1, 2021 and October 1, 2021, we completed our acquisitions of Viridian and 365 Cannabis which is reflected in the consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. The impact of the acquisition is discussed in our results of operations below.

Key Business Metrics

In addition to our results determined in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, we believe earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA are useful in evaluating our operating performance. We use EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. Please see the heading Non-GAAP Financial Measures for additional discussion and a reconciliation of GAAP net loss to these non-GAAP measures.

Impact of COVID-19

In December 2019, COVID-19 was first reported. After ongoing assessment of the rapid spread, number of cases and countries affected, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant global economic uncertainty, impacted the business of our clients, impacted our consulting business and our results of operations and could further impact our results of operations, and our cash flows in the future.

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted our clients’ business and the industry. Nearly every state and country where medical and adult use cannabis was legal declared access essential, which we believe is a significant shift in sentiment. Our clients also have experienced increased consumer demand throughout the year, including during the pandemic. We believe COVID-19 has accelerated consolidation in the cannabis industry. At the peak of the crisis, cannabis companies lost on average 75% to 90% of their value, however, industry sales in 2021 increased 40% over 2020. As we move towards economic recovery from the pandemic, more state governments are looking to cannabis legalization to generate tax revenue and create jobs. During the November 2020 election, a total of 7 initiatives in 5 states passed with overwhelming majority support, showing increased bi-partisan support. These initiatives bring the total number of states with legal, medical markets to 36 and adult-use markets to 17, plus Washington, DC. Various additional states have pending legislation aimed at expanding or adding legalization to their markets. In terms of job creation, over 107,059 jobs were added to the cannabis workforce in 2021, raising the total number of full-time equivalent jobs in the industry to 428,059.

The ultimate extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operational and financial performance will depend on certain developments, including the duration of the outbreak, the severity of the disease, responsive actions taken by public health officials, the impacts on our clients and our sales cycles, our ability to generate new business, the impacts on our clients, employee and industry events, and the effects on our vendors, all of which are uncertain and currently cannot be predicted. As a result, the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to impact our financial condition or results of operations is uncertain. Due to our subscription-based business model, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic may not be fully reflected in our results of operations until future periods. If the COVID-19 pandemic has a substantial impact on our employees’, partners’ or clients’ productivity, our results of operations and overall financial performance may be harmed.

See the section entitled “Risk Factors” for further discussion of the impact and possible future impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business.

Strategic Acquisitions

We have pursued and expect to continue to pursue acquisitions that align with our strategic objectives to build relevant content, technology, and expertise to best serve our current and future customers. Accordingly, the comparability of periods covered by our consolidated financial statements are, and in the future may be, affected by the impact of these acquisitions.

Components of Results of Operations

Revenue

We generate revenue from two primary sources: (1) software and (2) consulting services. Revenue from software comprised approximately 92%, 86% and 79% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021, six months ended December 31, 2020, and year ended June 30, 2020, respectively. Revenue from consulting services comprised approximately 7%, 12% and 19% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021, six months ended December 31, 2020, and year ended June 30, 2020, respectively. Revenue from software comprised approximately 94% and 95% of our revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Revenue from consulting services comprised approximately 6% and 4% of our revenue for three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Software. Our software is solutioned for our key markets, SMB and enterprise customers. Our SMB customers become a natural funnel for our larger, more robust enterprise offerings built on SAP and Microsoft. In either market, software revenue is generated from subscriptions and services related to the use of our commercial software platforms, MJ Platform, Ample, Trellis, Viridian, and 365 Cannabis, our government regulatory platform, Leaf Data Systems, and the sale of business intelligence, data analytics and other software related services. Software contracts are generally quarterly or annual contracts paid monthly, quarterly, or annually in advance of service and cancellable upon 30 or 90 days’ notice, although we do have many multi-year commercial software contracts. Leaf Data Systems contracts are generally multi-year contracts payable annually or quarterly in advance of service. Commercial software and Leaf Data Systems contracts generally may only be terminated early for breach of contract as defined in the respective agreements. Amounts that have been invoiced are initially recorded as deferred revenue or contract liabilities. Subscription revenue is recognized on a straight-line basis over the service term of the arrangement beginning on the date that our solution is made available to the customer and ending at the expiration of the subscription term.

Consulting Services. Consulting services revenue is generated by providing solutions for operators in the pre-application of licensures and pre-operational phases of development. These services include application and business plan preparation as they seek licenses to be granted. Consulting projects completed during the pre-application phase generally solidify us as the software vendor of choice for subsequent operational phases once the operator is granted the license. As a result, our consulting revenue is driven as new emerging states pass legislation, and as our client-operators gain licenses. Accordingly, we expect our consulting services to grow over time as more states emerge with legalization reforms.

Other Revenue. Our other revenue is derived primarily from point-of-sale hardware and other non-recurring revenue.

Cost of Revenue and Operating Expenses

Cost of Revenue

Our cost of revenue is derived from direct costs associated with operating our commercial and government regulatory software platforms and providing consulting services. The cost of revenue for our commercial and government regulatory platforms relates primarily to hosting and infrastructure costs and subcontractor expenses incurred in connection with certain government contracts. Consulting cost of revenue relates primarily to our employees’ and consultants’ salaries and other related compensation expenses. We record the cost of revenue using the direct cost method. This method requires the allocation of direct costs including support services and materials to the cost of revenue. 

Product Development Expenses

Our product development expenses include salaries and benefits, nearshore contractor expenses, technology expenses, and other overhead related to the ongoing maintenance of our commercial and government regulatory software platforms and planning for new software development. Product development costs, other than software development expenses qualifying for capitalization, are expensed as incurred. Capitalized software development costs consist primarily of employee-related costs. We devote substantial resources to enhancing and maintaining our technology infrastructure, developing new and enhancing existing solutions, conducting quality assurance testing, and improving our core technology.

Sales and Marketing Expenses

Sales and marketing expense is primarily salaries and related expenses, including commissions, for our sales, marketing, and client service staff. We also categorize payments to partners and marketing programs as sales and marketing expenses. Marketing programs consist of advertising, events, such as trade shows, corporate communications, brand building, and product marketing activities. We plan to continue to invest in marketing and sales by expanding our domestic and international selling and marketing activities, building brand awareness, attracting new clients, and sponsoring additional marketing events. The timing of these marketing events will affect our marketing costs in a particular quarter.  

We defer the portion of sales commissions that is considered a cost of obtaining a new contract with a customer in accordance with the revenue recognition standard and amortize these deferred costs over the period of benefit, currently one year. We expense the remaining sales commissions as incurred. The rates at which sales commissions are earned varies depending on a variety of factors, including the nature of the sale (new, renewal, or add-on service offering), the type of service or solution sold, and the sales channel.

General and Administrative Expenses

Our general and administrative expenses include salaries and benefits and other costs of departments serving administrative functions, such as executives, finance and accounting, human resources, public relations and investor relations. In addition, general and administrative expense includes non-personnel costs, such as professional fees and other supporting corporate expenses not allocated to cost of revenue, product and development or sales and marketing.

Total Other (Income) Expense, Net

Total other (income) expense, net consists of interest income on cash and cash equivalents, interest expense on our debt, quarterly remeasurement of the fair value of our convertible notes and derivative liability, foreign currency gains and losses, and other nonoperating gains and losses.

Results of Operations for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2022 Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 

The following table highlights the various sources of revenues and expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2022 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2021:

nm - percentage change not meaningful

Revenue

Software Revenue

Total software revenue increased to $6.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 from $3.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, for an increase of $2.7 million, or 71%. Software revenue related to our enterprise offerings, Viridian and 365 Cannabis, for the three months ended March 31, 2022 were $3.0 million, compared to $0 for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and software revenue related to our non-enterprise offerings, which include MJ Platform, Ample, Trellis, Solo, and Leaf Data Systems, were $3.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 compared to $3.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021. There was also a slight decrease in partnership and data revenue which was $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 compared to $0.4 million during the same period in the prior year. Software revenue accounted for 94% and 95% of total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. As indicated above, increase in software revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2022 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2021 was attributable to revenue generated from our enterprise offerings.

Consulting Revenue

Consulting revenue includes revenue generated from consulting services delivered to prospective and current cannabis, hemp and CBD businesses and business operators. Our consulting revenue was $0.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 compared to $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, an increase of $0.2 million, or 147%. Consulting revenue was 6% and 4% of total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Due to the nature of consulting revenue, our dependence on emerging market activity and the ongoing pandemic as a driver of demand, the percentage of consulting revenue over total revenue has varied from period to period depending on whether state legislation has expanded to allow new market entrants or growth of existing market participant operations. 

Other Revenue

Other revenue includes retail/resale revenue, which is generated from point-of-sale hardware. Other revenue was less than $0.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Cost of Revenue

Our cost of revenue was $2.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 compared to $1.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, an increase of $0.7 million, or 52%. Total cost of revenue increased primarily as a result of an increase in hosting expenses of $0.3 million and fees for SAP and Microsoft licenses in the amount of $0.5 million related to our acquisitions of Viridian and 365 Cannabis.

Gross Profit

Gross profit was $4.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 compared to $2.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, an increase of $2.2 million or 86%. Gross profit margin also increased from 64% for the three months ended March 31, 2021 to 68% for the three months ended March 31, 2022. This improvement in gross margin was primarily due to operating synergies realized from our acquired assets, our ongoing initiatives to drive operating effectiveness, and acquiring additional business-to-business customers, that have a higher gross margin.

Operating Expenses

Product Development

Product development expense was $2.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to $1.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, an increase of $0.7 million, or 48%. Product development expense increased primarily due the Viridian and 365 Cannabis acquisitions, which resulted in a $0.6 million increase in salary-related and contractor expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2022 compared to the same period in the prior year.

Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expense was $3.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to $1.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, an increase of $1.5 million, or 86%. The increase in sales and marketing expense is primarily related to the acquisitions of Viridian and 365 Cannabis which resulted in an increase of $1.6 million in salary-related and contractor expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2022 compared to the three months ended March 31, 2021.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expense was $2.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to $1.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, an increase of 0.7 million, or 39%. The increase in general and administrative expense is primarily related to the termination of our Las Vegas office space during the three months ended March 31, 2022, which resulted in a restructuring charge of $0.5 million. There was also an increase of $0.1 million in salary-related and contractor expenses as well as bad debt expense of $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 compared to the same period in the prior year.

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization expense increased to $2.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 from $1.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, an increase of $0.9 million, or 89%. The increase in amortization expense is primarily attributable to the acquired intangible assets from our Viridian and 365 Cannabis acquisitions in the amount of $0.6 million, which both occurred after March 31, 2021, as well as an increase in capitalized software in the amount of $0.4 million.

Impairment of long-lived assets

Due to a continued decline in market conditions from December 31, 2021 to March 31, 2022, we recorded an impairment charge of $15.5 million on our non-enterprise reporting unit during the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to no impairment charge for the three months ended March 31, 2021 (see Note 9 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Net to the unaudited consolidated financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2022 for further discussion on the impairments recorded).

Results of Operations for the Year Ended December 31, 2021 (audited) compared with the Year Ended December 31, 2020 (unaudited) 

The following table highlights the various sources of revenues and operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 (unaudited). The results for the year ended December 31, 2020 were derived by combining the audited six-month transition period ended December 31, 2020 with Akerna’s three-month period ended March 31, 2020 and three-month period ended June 30, 2020:

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Total Revenue

Total revenue increased to $20.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 from $13.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, an increase of $6.8 million, or 49%. The increase in total revenue was driven primarily by growth in our software business of $7.0 million, or 59% compared to the prior period. The growth in software was offset by a decline in consulting revenue of $0.2 million, or 13%, primarily a result of government shut-down related to COVID-19 as discussed below.

Software Revenue

Total software revenue increased to $19.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 from $12.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, for an increase of $7.0 million, or 59%. Software revenue related to our enterprise offering, Viridian and 365 Cannabis, during the year ended December 31, 2021, were $4.8 million compared to $0 in the prior year and software revenue related to our non-enterprise offerings, which include MJ Platform, Ample, Trellis, Solo, and Leaf Data Systems, for the year ended December 31, 2021, were $12.8 million compared to $11.6 million in the prior year. There was also in an increase in partnership and data revenue which was $1.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $0.4 million for the same period in the prior year. Software revenue accounted for 92% and 86% of total revenue in 2021 and 2020, respectively. As indicated above, the increase in software revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 was primarily attributable to our acquisitions of Ample, Viridian, and 365 Cannabis. 

Consulting Revenue

Consulting revenue includes revenue generated from consulting services delivered to prospective and current cannabis, hemp and CBD businesses and business operators. Our consulting revenue was $1.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $1.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, a decrease of $0.2 million, or 13%. Consulting revenue was 7% and 13% of total revenue for 2021 and 2020, respectively. Due to the nature of consulting revenue, our dependence on emerging market activity as well as the ongoing pandemic as a driver of demand, the percentage of consulting revenue over total revenue has varied from period to period depending on whether state legislation has expanded to allow new market entrants or growth of existing market participant operations.

Other Revenue

Other revenue includes retail/resale revenue, which was generated from point-of-sale hardware. Other revenue was $0.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 and was approximately 1% of total revenue for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue increased to $8.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 from $6.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, for an increase of $1.8 million, or 28%. Total cost of revenue increased primarily as a result of our acquisitions of Ample, Viridian, and 365 Cannabis, the specific drivers being an increase in hosting expenses by $1.6 million and fees for SAP and Microsoft licenses in the amount of $0.5 million. These increases from acquisitions were partially offset by net savings of $0.6 million in Leaf Data Systems contractor costs during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased to $12.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 from $7.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, for an increase of $5.0 million, or 67%. Gross margin increased to 61% for the year ended December 31, 2021 from 54% for the year ended December 31, 2020. This improvement in gross margin was primarily due to operating synergies realized from our acquired assets, our ongoing initiatives to drive operating effectiveness and acquiring additional B2B customers, which have a higher gross margin.

Operating Expenses

Product Development 

Product development expense increased to $6.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 from $5.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, for an increase of $1.2 million, or 22%. Product development expense increased primarily due the acquisitions of Ample, Viridian, and 365 Cannabis which resulted in a $1.4 million increase in salary-related expenses and a $0.3 million increase in stock compensation expense for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to year ended December 31, 2020. These increases were partially offset by savings on contractor expenses in the amount of $0.7 million.

Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expense increased to $9.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 from $8.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, for an increase of $1.0 million or 13%. The increase in sales and marketing expense is primarily related to the acquisitions of Ample, Viridian, and 365 Cannabis which resulted in an increase of $1.0 million in salary-related expenses and a $0.1 million increase in stock compensation expense for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to year ended December 31, 2020. These increases were slightly offset by a reduction in external marketing consulting costs as we moved more of our marketing initiatives in house.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expense decreased to $10.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 from $11.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, for a decrease of $0.6 million, or 5%. This decrease was primarily related to a reduction in acquisition-related expenses of $2.9 million, as we completed two acquisitions, Viridian and 365 Cannabis, during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to three acquisitions, Solo, Trellis, and Ample, during 2020. There was also a decrease of $0.6 million in rental expenses related to the termination of our office spaces in Denver in December 2020 and Toronto in June 2021, a decrease in financing fees of $0.9 million, and a decrease of $0.3 million in salary-related expenses as a direct result of cost-saving measures placed into service during 2020. Partially offsetting these decreases is a $1.9 million increase in restructuring charges during 2021 attributable to a lease settlement agreement for relinquishing office space in Toronto and the related write off of leasehold improvements associated with the lease termination, as well as an increase of $0.6 million for legal, audit, tax and other professional service fees as our business has continued to grow. We also had a $2.0 million change in fair value of contingent consideration during the year ended December 31, 2020 related to the 2020 acquisitions.

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization expense increased to $5.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 from $3.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in amortization expense is entirely related to the acquired intangible assets from our acquisitions completed in calendar year 2021 and 2020.

Impairment of long-lived assets

Due to a continued decline in market conditions and declines in the operating results of our non-enterprise reporting unit, we recorded an impairment charge of $14.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2021. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recorded a $6.9 million impairment charges (see Note 6 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Net to the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021 for further discussion on the impairments recorded).

Results of Operations for the Six Months Ended December 31, 2020 (audited) compared with the Six Months Ended December 31, 2019 (unaudited)

The following table highlights the various sources of revenues and operating expenses for the six months ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the six months ended December 31, 2019:

nm - percentage change not meaningful

Total Revenue

Total revenue increased to $7.8 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020 from $6.5 million for the six months ended December 31, 2019, an increase of $1.3 million, or 20%. The increase in total revenue was driven primarily by growth in our software business of $2.0 million, or 41% compared to the prior period. The growth in software was offset by a decline in consulting revenue of $0.6 million, or 41%, primarily a result of government shut-down related to COVID-19 as discussed below.

Software Revenue

Total software revenue increased to $6.8 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020 from $4.8 million for the six months ended December 31, 2019, for an increase of $2.0 million, or 41%. Total software revenue increased $2.8 million primarily as a result of the acquisition of Ample, Trellis and Solo, offset by a decline in government revenue of $0.4 million, primarily as a result of these contracts maturing to a run-and-maintain mode, and a decline in other software revenue of $0.4 million. Total software revenue accounted for 86% and 74% of total revenue for the six months ended December 31, 2020, and 2019, respectively.

Consulting Revenue

Consulting revenue includes revenue generated from consulting services delivered to prospective and current cannabis, hemp and CBD businesses and business operators. Our consulting revenue was $0.9 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020 compared to $1.6 million for the six months ended December 31, 2019, a decrease of $0.6 million, or 41%. This decrease is mainly due to the impact of COVID-19. Consulting services are also correlated to state legalizations and other regulatory expansion activity. As a result, individual year-over-year comparisons may experience variability depending on the timing of recent legislative changes. During the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shut-down, state legislatures have turned their focus to the pandemic and tabled work on cannabis legislation, which resulted in delays in our providing consulting services during the six months ended December 31, 2020. However, many state ballot initiatives were passed in the November 2020 election that provides for new medical or adult-use marijuana. We expect, despite the slowing of our consulting activity experienced during the pandemic, we will see increased demand for our services following the November 2020 election. As a sign consulting revenue is starting to rebound from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, consulting revenue increased to $0.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2020 from $0.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020, an increase of $0.3 million, or 100%.

Consulting revenue was 12% and 24% of total revenue for the six months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Due to the nature of consulting revenue and our dependence on emerging market activity as well as the ongoing pandemic as a driver of demand, the quarters in which we recognize consulting revenue has varied from year to year depending on whether state legislation has expanded to allow new market entrants or growth of existing market participant operations.

Other Revenue

Other revenue includes retail/resale revenue, which was generated from point-of-sale hardware. Other revenue was $0.1 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020 and $0.1 million for the six months ended December 31, 2019. Other revenue was 2.0% and 2% of total revenue for the six months ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue increased to $3.1 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020 from $3 million for the six months ended December 31, 2019, for an increase of $0.1 million, or 5%. Total cost of revenue increased $0.4 million as a result of the acquisition of Ample, Trellis and Solo, offset by a decline in professional services costs of $0.3 million due to declining use of third-party consulting firms for our government solution as a result of these contracts maturing to a run-and-maintain mode.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased to $4.7 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020 from $3.5 million for the six months ended December 31, 2019, for an increase of $1.2 million, or 34%. Gross margin increased to 60% for the six months ended December 31, 2020 from 54% for the six months ended December 31, 2019. Total gross profit increased $2.6 million as a result of the acquisition of Ample, Trellis and Solo, offset by the decline in consulting revenue of $0.6 million, a decline government revenue of $0.4 million, primarily as a result of these contracts maturing to a run-and-maintain mode and a decline in other software revenue of $0.4 million.

Operating Expenses

Product Development

Product development expense increased to $3.2 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020 from $1.2 million for the six months ended December 31, 2019, for an increase of $1.9 million, or 156%. The increase was due primarily to $1.3 million in employee-related costs from higher headcount and other operating cost related to acquisitions. Stock compensation expense increased $0.4 million compared to the prior period. Software costs increased $0.3 million primarily a result of additional investment in information technology security and reporting tools and software hosting costs, including data infrastructure.

Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expense increased to $3.9 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020 from $3.7 million for the six months ended December 31, 2019, for an increase of $0.2 million or 5%. Total sales and marketing expense increased $0.8 million as a result of the acquisition of Ample, Trellis and Solo, offset by a decline other sales and marketing expense of $0.6 million primarily a result of decreased travel costs and a reduction in customer event spend due primarily to cancelling all in-person customer activities and events as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expense decreased to $4.4 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020 from $4.7 million for the six months ended December 31, 2019, for a decrease of $0.2 million, or 5%. Total general and administrative expense increased $0.6 million as a result of the acquisition of Ample, Trellis and Solo. Bad debt expense decreased $0.6 million during the six months ended December 31, 2020, as compared to the six months ended December 31, 2019, due to our improvement in the overall quality of our revenue and client portfolio, and the enhancement of our sales and marketing team which has resulted in a steady decline in the number and amount of delinquent accounts. We recorded a benefit of $1.0 million to reflect the estimated fair value of contingent consideration paid for our acquisition of Trellis and Ample. During 2020, we vacated certain leased offices in the U.S. following the dislocation of our workforce because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we recorded a restructuring charge of $0.4 million, which was recorded in general and administrative expenses. Stock compensation expenses increased $0.3 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020, as compared to the six months ended December 31, 2019

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization expense increased to $2.0 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020 from $0.1 million for the six months ended December 31, 2019. Amortization expense increased entirely as a result of acquired intangible assets from our acquisitions completed in calendar 2020.

Impairment of long-lived assets

As a result of delays in executing on strategic initiatives related to acquisitions completed in calendar 2020 we recorded a $6.9 million impairment adjustment during the six months ended December 31, 2020. There were no similar charges during the six months ended December 31, 2019. A goodwill impairment charge of $4.2 million was recorded related to our Ample reporting unit and an intangible asset charge of $2.7 million was recorded for intangible assets acquired from our Solo transaction (see Note 6 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Net to the audited consolidated financial statements for the six months ended December 31, 2019 for further discussion on the impairments recorded).

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to our results determined in accordance with GAAP, we believe the following non-GAAP measures are useful in evaluating our operating performance. We use the following non-GAAP financial information to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial information, when taken collectively, may be helpful to investors because it provides consistency and comparability with past financial performance. However, non-GAAP financial information is presented for supplemental informational purposes only, has limitations as an analytical tool, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP.

Investors are cautioned that there are material limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures as an analytical tool. Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate similarly titled non-GAAP measures differently or may use other measures to evaluate their performance, all of which could reduce the usefulness of our non-GAAP financial measures as tools for comparison. We attempt to compensate for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP items excluded from these non-GAAP financial measures.

Investors are encouraged to review the related GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures with their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and not rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

We believe that EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, when considered with the consolidated financial statements determined in accordance with GAAP, are helpful to investors in understanding our performance and allows for comparison of our performance and credit strength to our peers. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered alternatives to net loss as determined in accordance with GAAP as indicators of our performance or liquidity.

We define EBITDA as net loss before interest income and expense, changes in fair value of convertible notes, changes in fair value of derivative liabilities, provision for income taxes, and depreciation and amortization. We calculate Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA further adjusted to exclude the effects of the following items for the reasons set forth below:

The reconciliation of net loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA is as follows:

Going Concern and Management's Liquidity Plans

In accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) standard on going concern, Accounting Standard Update, or ASU No. 2014-15, The Company assesses going concern uncertainty in its consolidated financial statements to determine if it has sufficient cash, cash equivalents and working capital on hand, including marketable equity securities, and any available borrowings on loans, to operate for a period of at least one year from the date the consolidated financial statements are issued, which is referred to as the “look-forward period” as defined by ASU No. 2014-15. As part of this assessment, based on conditions that are known and reasonably knowable to The Company, it will consider various scenarios, forecasts, projections, estimates and will make certain key assumptions, including the timing and nature of projected cash expenditures or programs, and its ability to delay or curtail expenditures or programs, if necessary, among other factors. Based on this assessment, as necessary or applicable, The Company makes certain assumptions around implementing curtailments or delays in the nature and timing of programs and expenditures to the extent The Company deems probable those implementations can be achieved and it has the proper authority to execute them within the look-forward period in accordance with ASU No. 2014-15.

The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared on the basis that we will continue as a going concern, which contemplates realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. However, since our inception we have incurred recurring operating losses, used cash from operations, and relied on capital raising transactions to continue ongoing operations. During the year ended December 31, 2021, six months ended December 31, 2020, and year ended June 30, 2020, we incurred a loss from operations of $33.4 million, $15.7 million, and $17.3 million, respectively, and used cash in operations of $8.2 million, $8.7 million, and $14.3 million, respectively. At December 31, 2021, the Company had a working capital deficit of $10.9 million with $13.9 million in cash available to fund future operations. During the three months ended March 31, 2022 and March 31, 2021, we incurred a loss from operations of $20.6 million and $3.5 million, respectively, and used cash in operations of $3.6 million and $1.4 million, respectively. As of March 31, 2022, a working capital deficit of $15.1 million with $9.7 million in cash available to fund future operations. These factors raise substantial doubt, as defined by GAAP, about the ability of the Company to continue to operate as a going concern for the twelve months following the issuance of these consolidated financial statements. These consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments related to the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.

On July 23, 2021, we entered into an Equity Distribution Agreement with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners ("ATM Program"). Pursuant to the terms of the ATM Program, we may offer and sell from time to time, up to $25 million of shares of our common stock. As of December 31, 2021, we have raised gross proceeds of $1.9 million through the issuance of 556,388 shares through the ATM program. While no assurance can be provided that we will be able to raise further capital under the program, we intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of our shares of common stock, if any, for general corporate purposes, including working capital, marketing, product development, capital expenditures and merger and acquisition activities.

On October 5, 2021, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with the two institutional investors that held the Company's convertible notes issued in June of 2020 (the "2020 Notes") to sell senior secured notes in a private placement (the "Senior Convertible Notes"). The Senior Convertible Notes have an aggregate principal amount of $20 million, an aggregate original issue discount of 10%, and rank senior to all our other outstanding and future indebtedness. Approximately $3.3 million of the proceeds from the Senior Convertible Notes were used to payoff the 2020 Notes, which were then to be cancelled. The net proceeds from the issuance of the Senior Convertible Notes was approximately $14.6 million, following the original issue discount and deductions for expenses and paydown of the 2020 Notes. These net proceeds will be used to support Akerna's ongoing growth initiatives and continued investment in current and future technology infrastructure. The Senior Convertible Notes are convertible into shares of common stock of Akerna at a conversion price of $4.05 per share. The Senior Convertible Notes mature on October 5, 2024 and are to be repaid in monthly installments beginning on January 1, 2022. The Senior Convertible Notes can be repaid in common shares or cash.

Management’s plan for the Company to continue as a going concern includes raising additional capital from our ATM program, subject to certain effects on the Senior Convertible Notes should we utilize the program, including resetting the conversion price of the Senior Convertible Notes should we raise more than $5 million under the ATM program and an increase of 10% in the amount payable on the monthly installment payments if they are paid in cash and we have used the ATM program in the 12 months prior to the installment date, settling our contingent consideration and Senior Convertible Notes in common stock rather than cash as it comes due, to the extent that this is permissible, and implementing certain cost cutting strategies throughout the organization, while continuing to seek to grow our customer base and realize synergies as we continue to integrate our recent acquisitions. If the Company is unable to raise sufficient additional funds through the ATM Program and make it's convertible debt payments in stock, it will have to develop and implement a plan to extend payables, reduce expenditures (including by laying off employees and reducing or eliminating the funding of certain business units and initiatives of the Company), or scale back our business plan until sufficient additional capital is raised through other equity or debt offerings to support further operations and satisfaction of the debt, and the Company may be subject to additional risks, including retention of key employees. Such offerings may include the issuance of shares of common stock, warrants to purchase common stock, preferred stock, convertible debt or other instruments that may dilute our current stockholders. If we are required to raise additional capital as discussed above and if we cannot timely raise additional funds, we may also be unable to meet the financial covenants of the Senior Convertible Notes, which could result in an event of default under those instruments which could negatively impact the Company. See the risks detailed in our Form 10-K under “Item 1A. Risk Factors - Risks Relating to our Convertible Debt”.

The ability of the Company to continue as a going concern is dependent upon its ability to successfully accomplish the plans described in the preceding paragraph and eventually secure other sources of financing and attain profitable operations. We will require additional financing in the second quarter of 2022 to meet our ongoing operational working capital requirements and continue to meet the financial covenants of the Senior Convertible Notes. As noted above, we plan to meet those requirements in part through the use of our ATM Facility, but there are no guarantees that the ATM Facility will permit us to raise sufficient cash to meet our ongoing requirements. We also assume that we will be able to pay our convertible debt in common stock rather than cash, however if at any point our stock price is below $2.00 (which it is as of the date hereof), the debt holders may request the payments in cash rather than stock. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for one year from the issuance of the consolidated financial statements. If we are unable to raise sufficient capital we may have to reduce operations which could significantly affect our results of operations. If we fail to meet the financial covenants of the Senior Convertible Notes and cannot obtain a waiver from such provisions or otherwise come to an agreement with the holders of our debt, such holders may declare a default on the debt which could subject our assets to seizure and sale, negatively impacting our business. The accompanying consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recoverability and classification of assets and liabilities that might be necessary if the Company is unable to continue as a going concern.

Our corporate liquidity requirements primarily include payroll costs and corporate general and administrative expenses and our current sources of corporate liquidity include the cash on hand from our Senior Convertible Notes as well as the proceeds we anticipate from the access to our ATM Program.  

Cash Flows

Our cash and restricted cash balance was $14.4 million and $18.3 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Cash flow information are as follows:

Our cash and restricted cash balance was $10.2 million as of March 31, 2022. Cash flow information is as follows:

Operating Activities

Our largest source of operating cash is cash collections from our customers for subscriptions to our products. Our primary uses of cash in operating activities are for employee-related expenditures, marketing expenses and third-party hosting costs. Net cash used in operating activities is impacted by our net loss adjusted for certain non-cash items, including depreciation and amortization expenses, change in fair value of convertible notes and derivative liabilities, stock-based compensation, deferred income taxes, as well as the effect of changes in operating assets and liabilities.

Net cash used in operating activities totaled $8.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 and $8.7 million during the six months ended December 31, 2020. For the year ended December 31, 2021, cash was consumed from operations by a net loss of $31.3 million, less non-cash items of $24.0 million and a net change in assets and liabilities of $0.8 million. For the six months ended December 31, 2020, cash was consumed from operations by a net loss of $16.2 million, less non-cash items of $9.7 million and a net change in assets and liabilities of $2.2 million.

Net cash used in operating activities increased to $3.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022, from $1.4 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021, an increase of $2.2 million. For the three months ended March 31, 2022, cash was consumed from operations by a net loss of $22.0 million, less non-cash items of $19.5 million and a net change in assets and liabilities of $1.1 million. For the three months ended March 31, 2021, cash was consumed from operations by a net loss of $6.5 million, less non-cash items of $4.6 million and a net change in assets and liabilities of $0.5 million.

Investing Activities

Our primary investing activities have consisted of capitalization of internal-use software necessary to deliver significant new features and functionality in our platform which provides value to our customers. As our business grows, we expect our capital expenditures to continue to increase. Other investing activities include cash outflows related to purchases of property and equipment, and from time-to-time, the cash paid for asset and business acquisitions.

Net cash used in investing activities totaled $10.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2021, as a result of net cash paid as consideration for the 365 Cannabis acquisition and amounts invested in the development of our software products. Net cash used by investing activities during the six months ended December 31, 2020 was $7.1 million as a result of amounts invested in the development of our software products and the net cash paid as consideration for the acquisition of Ample.

Net cash used in investing activities totaled $0.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022, as a result of cash outflows for the development of our software products. Net cash used by investing activities during the three months ended March 31, 2021, was $0.7 million which was also related to our software development.

Financing Activities

Our financing activities have consisted primarily of proceeds from issuance of our common stock, issuances of convertible debt and proceeds from the exercise of warrants.

Net cash provided by financing activities totaled $14.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 and represents cash proceeds of $18.0 million from the issuance of convertible debt in October 2021, proceeds from our ATM program in the amount of $1.8 million partially offset by the value of shares withhold for tax withholdings and payments on our convertible debt in the amount of $0.5 million and $4.6 million, respectively. Net cash provided by financing activities was $9.5 million for the six months ended December 31, 2020, of which $12 million was related to the common stock offering that closed on October 30, 2020, partially offset by $1.5 million in payments on our financing obligations and $1.0 million of offering costs from issuing common stock.

Net cash used in financing activities totaled less than $0.1 million during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and $0.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021. During both periods the cash used in financing activities was related to the value of shares withhold for tax withholdings.

ATM Program

On July 23, 2021, we entered into an Equity Distribution Agreement with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners (the "ATM Program"). Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, we may offer and sell from time to time, up to $25 million of shares of our common stock. As of December 31, 2021, we have raised gross proceeds of $1.9 million through the issuance of 556,388 shares through the ATM program.

Senior Secured Convertible Notes Issuance

On October 5, 2021, we entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement ("SPA") with the two institutional investors that held the Company's convertible notes issued on June 8, 2020 (the "2020 Notes") to sell a new series of senior secured notes in a private placement (the "Senior Convertible Notes"). The Senior Convertible Notes have an aggregate principal amount of $20,000,000, an aggregate original issue discount of 10%, and rank senior to all our other outstanding and future indebtedness. Approximately $3.3 million of the proceeds from the Senior Convertible Notes were used to payoff the 2020 Notes, which were then to be cancelled. The net proceeds from the issuance of the Senior Convertible Notes was approximately $14.6 million, following the original issue discount and deductions for expenses and paydown of the 2020 Notes. These net proceeds will be used to support Akerna's ongoing growth initiatives and continued investment in current and future technology infrastructure. The Senior Convertible Notes are convertible into shares of common stock of Akerna at a conversion price of $4.05 per share. The Senior Convertible Notes can be repaid in common shares or cash.

Maturity and Repayment Dates

The Senior Convertible Notes mature on October 5, 2024, or the Maturity Date. The principal amount is payable in monthly installments beginning on January 1, 2022. Unless deferred by the holder, on installment dates from January 1, 2022 through, and including, June 1, 2023, $1.1 million in principal amount will be payable and on installment date July 1, 2023, $0.2 million in principal amount will be payable. With respect to installment dates from August 1, 2023 through and including the maturity date of October 5, 2024, any deferred payments from prior installment dates will be payable. We may not prepay any portion of the principal amount nor interest, if any.

Interest

The Senior Convertible Notes are being sold with an original issue discount and do not bear interest except upon the occurrence of an Event of Default (described below), in which event the applicable rate will be 15.0% per annum.

Conversion

The Senior Convertible Notes are convertible at any time in whole or in part, at the option of the Note Holders, into shares of the common stock at a rate equal to the amount of principal, interest (if any) and unpaid late charges (if any), divided by a conversion price of $4.05, or the Conversion Price. The Conversion Price is subject to standard adjustments in the event of any stock split, stock dividend, stock combination, recapitalization or other similar transaction.

In connection with the occurrence of Events of Default, the Note Holders will be entitled to convert all or any portion of the Senior Convertible Notes at an alternate conversion price equal to the lower of (i) the conversion price then in effect, and (ii) 80% of the lower of (x) the volume-weighted average price, or VWAP, of the common stock as of the trading day immediately preceding the applicable date of determination and (y) the quotient of (A) the sum of the VWAP of the common stock for each of the two trading days with the lowest VWAP of the common stock during the ten consecutive trading day period ending on and including the trading day immediately prior to the applicable date of determination, divided by (B) two, but not less than the floor price of $0.54.

Events of Default

The Senior Convertible Notes are subject to certain customary events of default, see Item 1A. “Risk Factors - Risks Related to our Convertible Debt” for a short discussion of events of default under the Senior Convertible Notes.

Contractual Obligations

For information concerning our contingent consideration, convertible debt, and operating lease obligations, see Notes 4, 6, and 7, respectively, to our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2022, which appear below.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

None.

Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in this prospectus are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, and related disclosures. To the extent that there are material differences between these estimates and actual results, our financial condition or results of operations would be affected. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Our actual results could differ from these estimates.

Critical accounting policies and estimates are those that we consider critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management's judgments and estimates.

Revenue Recognition

We generate revenue through the sale of our cloud-based software and the delivery of consulting services. Revenues are recognized when control of these services is transferred to our customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those services. We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:

We recognize subscription on a ratable basis over the contract term beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Our subscription contracts range from twelve months to thirty-six months in duration, are billed in advance and are non-cancelable. We consider the access to our platform and related support services in a customer contract to be a series of distinct services which comprise a single performance obligation because they are substantially the same and have the same pattern of transfer. Amounts that have been invoiced are recorded in accounts receivable and in deferred revenue or revenue, depending on whether transfer of control to customers has occurred. We record contract liabilities to deferred revenue when cash payments are received or due. Deferred revenue consists of the unearned portion of customer billings.

Consulting revenue contracts have an initial set of proprietary deliverables that are provided to clients upfront, which is considered a separate performance obligation. As such, 30% of the contract value is recognized upfront when deliverables are provided, with the remaining recognized over the life of the contract as the consulting services are performed.

Capitalized Software Development Costs

We capitalize software development costs incurred to develop functionality for our commercial software platforms and government regulatory software platform, as well as certain upgrades and enhancements that are expected to result in enhanced functionality. These costs include personnel and related expenses for employees, costs of third-party contractors and other services directly associated with the development projects. We capitalize certain software development costs for new offerings as well as upgrades to our existing software platforms. We amortize these development costs over the estimated useful life of two to five years on a straight-line basis. We believe there are two key estimates within the capitalized software balance, which are the determination of the amounts to be capitalized and the determination of the useful life of the software.

We determine the amount of software development costs to be capitalized based on the amount of time spent by our developers on projects in the application stage of development. Costs associated with building or significantly enhancing our commercial software platform and our government regulatory platform are capitalized, while costs associated with planning new developments and maintaining our software platforms are expensed as incurred. There is judgment involved in estimating the time allocated to a particular project in the application stage as well as the determination of whether the project is an enhancement to the existing software or maintenance thereof. A significant change in the time spent on each project or the determination of the nature of projects involving existing software platforms could have a material impact on the amount capitalized and related amortization expense in subsequent periods.

We determined that a two-to-five-year life is appropriate for our capitalized software based on our best estimate of the useful life of the software after considering factors such as continuous developments in the technology, obsolescence and anticipated life of the service offering before significant upgrades. Based on our prior experience, software will generally remain in use for a minimum of two to five years before being significantly replaced or modified to keep up with evolving client needs. While we do not anticipate any significant changes to this two-to-five-year estimate, a change in this estimate could produce a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. For example, if we received information that indicated the useful life of all software was one year rather than two to five, our capitalized software balance would materially decrease, and our expense would materially increase.

Stock-Based Compensation

Stock-based compensation for all employee and non-employee stock-based awards, including restricted stock units and restricted stock, is measured at fair value on the date of grant and recognized over the service period. The fair value of restricted stock units and restricted stock are calculated based on the fair value of our common stock on the date of grant.

Stock-based compensation expense is recognized over the requisite service periods of awards, which is typically one to four years for restricted stock units and restricted stock. The estimated forfeiture rate applied to employee awards is based on historical forfeiture rates. The estimated number of stock-based awards that will ultimately vest requires judgment, and to the extent actual results, or updated estimates, differ from our current estimates, such amounts will be recorded as a cumulative adjustment in the period actual results are realized or estimates are revised. A higher forfeiture rate will result in an adjustment that will decrease stock-based compensation expense, whereas a lower forfeiture rate will result in an adjustment that will increase stock-based compensation expense. We do not apply a forfeiture rate assumption to value non-employee awards, given the nature of the services provided.

Business Combinations

We account for business acquisitions using the purchase method of accounting, in accordance with which assets acquired and liabilities assumed are recorded at their respective fair values at the acquisition date. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the estimated fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed.

Significant judgment is used in determining fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed, as well as intangible assets and their estimated useful lives. Fair value and useful life determinations are based on, among other factors, estimates of future expected cash flows attributable to the acquired intangible assets and appropriate discount rates used in computing present values. Management applied significant judgement in estimating the fair value of the acquired developed technology intangible asset, which involved significant estimates and assumptions with respect to forecasted revenue growth rates, the revenue attributable to the acquired intangible asset over its estimated economic life and the discount rate. These judgments may materially impact the estimates used in allocating the purchase price consideration to the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed, as well as our current and future operating results. Actual results may vary from these estimates that may result in adjustments to goodwill and acquisition date fair values of assets and liabilities during a measurement period or upon a final determination of asset and liability fair values, whichever occurs first. Adjustments to the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed made after the end of the measurement period are recorded within our operating results.

Contingent Consideration Liabilities

ASC 805 requires that contingent consideration be estimated and recorded at fair value as of the acquisition date as part of the total consideration transferred. Contingent consideration is an obligation of the acquirer to transfer additional assets or equity interests to the selling shareholders in the future if certain future events occur or conditions are met, such as the attainment of product development milestones. Contingent consideration also includes additional future payments to selling shareholders based on achievement of components of earnings, such as “earn-out” provisions or percentage of future revenues, including royalties paid to the selling shareholders based on a percentage of revenues generated from CHI and Sera Labs over the contractual period.

The fair value of milestone-based contingent consideration was determined using a scenario analysis valuation method which incorporates our assumptions with respect to the likelihood of achievement of revenue and gross margin percentage milestones, as defined in the Sera Labs Merger Agreement, credit risk, timing of the contingent consideration payments and a risk-adjusted discount rate to estimate the present value of the expected payments, all of which require significant management judgment and assumptions. Since the contingent consideration payments are based on nonfinancial, binary events, management believes the use of the scenario analysis method is appropriate.

The fair value of all contingent consideration after the Sera Labs Merger Date is reassessed by us as changes in circumstances and conditions occur, with the subsequent change in fair value recorded in our consolidated statements of operations. Changes in key assumptions can materially affect the estimated fair value of contingent consideration liabilities and, accordingly, the resulting gain or loss that we record in our consolidated financial statements. See Note 17 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Report.

Impairment of Goodwill and Acquired Intangible Assets

Goodwill is not amortized but rather tested for impairment at least annually, or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that goodwill may be impaired. Goodwill impairment is recognized when the carrying value of goodwill exceeds our implied fair value. Goodwill is evaluated for impairment annually on October 31, and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value of goodwill may not be recoverable.

Acquisition intangible assets consist primarily of technology, customer relationships and trade names. Purchased intangible assets are recorded at fair value on the date of acquisition and amortized over their estimated useful lives following the pattern in which the economic benefits of the assets will be consumed, generally straight-line. We continually evaluate whether events and circumstances have occurred that indicate the remaining estimated useful life of amortizable long-lived assets may warrant revision or that the remaining balance may not be recoverable. When factors indicate that acquisition intangible assets should be evaluated for possible impairment, we use an estimate of the related undiscounted future cash flows over the remaining life of the amortizable long-lived assets in measuring whether they are recoverable. if the estimated undiscounted future cash flows do not exceed the carrying value of the asset, a loss is recorded as the excess of the asset’s carrying value over its fair value.

Determining if an impairment triggering event has occurred (which may include, but is not limited to, a significant adverse change in customer demand or business climate or a significant decrease in expected cash flows) requires significant management judgement.

Senior Convertible Notes

We determined at the issuance of our Senior Convertible Notes to elect the fair value option. At issuance, the carrying value of the Senior Convertible Notes was recorded at estimated fair value calculated using probability weighted valuations of various settlement scenarios. The valuations of the various settlement outcomes were calculated using Monte Carlo simulation models and discounted cash flow models. We remeasure the Senior Convertible Notes to estimated fair value on each reporting period using valuation techniques similar to those applied at issuance. The change in the fair value resulting from changes in instrument specific credit risk is recognized as other comprehensive income with the remainder of the change recognized in current earnings. We believe key estimates used in accounting for the Senior Convertible Notes are the fair value at the reporting period end as well as the determination of the portion of the change resulting from instrument specific credit risk, including assumptions regarding the probability of various outcomes and the volatility of Akerna's common stock. A significant change in the probability weighting or the volatility could have a material impact to the carrying value of the Senior Convertible Notes as well as the amount of change recognized during the period in earnings.

Income Taxes

Income taxes are accounted for using the asset and liability method, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the carrying amounts and the tax basis of other assets and liabilities. We provide for income taxes at the current and future enacted tax rates and laws applicable in each taxing jurisdiction. We use a two-step approach for recognizing and measuring tax benefits taken or expected to be taken in a tax return and disclosures regarding uncertainties in income tax positions. We recognize interest and penalties related to income tax matters in selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statement of operations.

We recognize deferred tax assets to the extent that its assets are more likely than not to be realized. In making such a determination, we consider all available positive and negative evidence, including future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences, projected future taxable income, tax planning strategies, and results of recent operations. If we determine that we would be able to realize our deferred tax assets in the future in excess of its net recorded amount, we will make an adjustment to the deferred tax asset valuation allowance, which would reduce the provision for income taxes.  

Going Concern Assessment

With the implementation of FASB’s standard on going concern, ASU No. 2014-15, we assess going concern uncertainty in our consolidated financial statements to determine if we have sufficient cash and cash equivalents on hand and working capital, including available loans or lines of credit, if any, to operate for a period of at least one year from the date our consolidated financial statements are issued, which is referred to as the “look-forward period” as defined by ASU No. 2014-15. As part of this assessment, based on conditions that are known and reasonably knowable to us, we consider various scenarios, forecasts, projections, and estimates, and we make certain key assumptions, including the timing and nature of projected cash expenditures or programs, and our ability to delay or curtail those expenditures or programs, if necessary, among other factors. Based on this assessment, as necessary or applicable, we make certain assumptions around implementing curtailments or delays in the nature and timing of programs and expenditures to the extent we deem probable those implementations can be achieved and we have the proper authority to execute them within the look-forward period in accordance with ASU No. 2014-15.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Please refer to Note 2 - “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” to the consolidated financial statements for our discussion about new accounting pronouncements adopted and those pending.

DIRECTORS AND EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Directors and Executive Officers

Jessica Billingsley has served as Chief Executive Officer and director since the consummation of our Business Combination on June 17, 2019, and Chairman of the Board since July 2019. Ms. Billingsley co-founded MJF, our wholly-owned subsidiary, in 2010 and served as President of MJF from 2010 to April 2018 and Chief Executive Officer since May 2018. An early investor in one of Colorado’s first legal medical cannabis businesses, Ms. Billingsley created the category of cannabis seed-to-sale technology after seeing the need first-hand. Prior to MJF, Ms. Billingsley was the founder and chief executive officer of Zoco, a technology services firm with clients across the United States. Ms. Billingsley has 20 years of technology and systems experience with rapidly scaling businesses, and founded her first business at the age of 22. Ms. Billingsley served on the board of the National Cannabis Industry Association from 2012 – 2019 and currently serves as Chair of the Board of the United States Cannabis Council. Ms. Billingsley was named one of Fortune’s 10 most promising women entrepreneurs in 2015 and named one of Inc. Magazine’s 100 Female Founders in 2018. Ms. Billingsley holds a dual degree from the University of Georgia in Computer Science and Communications. Ms. Billingsley was selected to serve on our Board based on her extensive experience with technology and systems companies, broad experience in the telecommunications industry, and her background as an entrepreneur.

Scott Sozio has served as a director since October 2018, prior to the consummation of our merger on June 17, 2019. From October 2018 until the consummation of the merger on June 17, 2019, Mr. Sozio served as President and Secretary of Akerna. From September 2017 and until the merger in June 2019, Mr. Sozio served as the chief executive officer and a director of MTech Acquisition Corp. Since July 2019, Mr. Sozio has served as Head of Corporate Development., Mr. Sozio is the co-founder of Hypur Ventures and since June 2016, has served as its managing director. Since April 2015, Mr. Sozio has served as a director of Hypur Inc., a financial technology firm focused on banking compliance. Since September 2016, Mr. Sozio has served as a director of Simplifya Holdings, LLC, a cannabis compliance technology business, both portfolio companies of Hypur Ventures. Since February 2013, Mr. Sozio has served as a partner in Van Dyke Holdings, where he is responsible for its private investment portfolio. Prior to joining Van Dyke Holdings, Mr. Sozio was a vice president of Bay Harbour Management L.C., a distressed-debt focused hedge fund. He joined Bay Harbour in 2004 after working in the Financial Restructuring Advisory Group at CIBC World Markets. Mr. Sozio is the former Chairman of Island One, Inc., a timeshare company based in Florida (from 2011 to 2012), and acquired by Diamond Resorts as part of Diamond’s initial public offering, and a former director of Great Destinations, Inc., a timeshare sales business based in California (from 2013 to 2016), and acquired by Interval International in 2016. Mr. Sozio holds a B.A. in Architecture from Columbia University. Mr. Sozio was selected to serve on our Board based on his extensive experience in finance and investment management and his broad experience with working with cannabis companies.

Matthew R. Kane has served as a director since the consummation of our merger on June 17, 2019. Since December 2015, Mr. Kane has served as a director or MJF. In 2002, Mr. Kane co-founded and served as co-chief executive officer of Green Shades Software, Inc., a human resources, payroll and tax reporting software company, until 2019 where he has since served as a board member. Additionally, Mr. Kane has served as chief executive officer of Welltality, a health care technology start-up, from 2014 to 2018, where he has since served as a board member. He received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from Jacksonville University in 2001, an MBA from the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida in 2006, and a Masters in Information and Data Service at the University of California, Berkeley in 2020. He previously served for 11 years on the board of Jacksonville University from 2007 to May 2018 and was reappointed in 2019. Mr. Kane was selected to serve on our Board based on his extensive experience in in the software technology applications industry.

Tahira Rehmatullah has served as a director since consummation of our merger on June 17, 2019. Since October 2018, prior to the merger and until consummation of the merger in June 2019, Ms. Rehmatullah served as Vice President and Treasurer. Since 2016, Ms. Rehmatullah has been president of T3 Ventures, a strategy and management consulting firm. From September 2017 to June 2019, Ms. Rehmatullah was the chief financial officer of MTech Acquisitions Inc. From 2016 to 2019, Ms. Rehmatullah was a managing director of Hypur Ventures, where she was responsible for portfolio company management as well as investment sourcing and execution. From June 2017 to June 2018, Ms. Rehmatullah served as a director of Dope Media, a cannabis media company and portfolio company of Hypur Ventures. Prior to joining Hypur Ventures, from 2014 to 2016 Ms. Rehmatullah served as the general manager of Marley Natural, a cannabis brand based on the life and legacy of Bob Marley, where she was responsible for the brand launch as well as managing its day-to-day operations. From 2014 to 2016, Ms. Rehmatullah served as an investment manager at Privateer Holdings, a private equity firm with investments in the legal cannabis industry. Prior to her activities in the cannabis industry, from 2011 to 2012, Ms. Rehmatullah was a portfolio manager at City First Enterprises where she was responsible for underwriting, structuring and managing deals for their community development and investment portfolio. From 2007 to 2011, Ms. Rehmatullah was an associate at Perry Capital where she led research initiatives for the asset-backed securities team. Her career began in Ernst & Young’s Financial Services Advisory practice in 2005. Ms. Rehmatullah holds an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management and a B.S. in Finance and minor in Life Sciences from The Ohio State University. Ms. Rehmatullah was selected to serve on our Board based on her extensive experience in finance and investment management and her broad experience working with cannabis companies.

Barry Fishman has served as a director since he was elected to the Board at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Stockholders on June 7, 2021. Over the past two decades, Barry has been the Chief Executive Officer of four life science companies (two listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange), including VIVO Cannabis from 2017-2020, Merus Labs International from 2014-2017, Teva Canada from 2003-2012 and Taro Canada from 2000-2003. From 1979-1982, Mr. Fishman was a Senior Associate at Deloitte. Mr. Fishman has also served as a director of five public and three not-for-profit organizations. In 2015, Barry was inaugurated into the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame for his contributions to healthcare and exemplary service to the community. Mr. Fishman is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Fishman holds a Bachelor degree in Communications from McGill University. Mr. Fishman was selected to serve on our Board based on his extensive public company experience as both a Chief Executive Officer and a director and based on his being a Certified Public Accountant who can provide better guidance on accounting issues and review on the Company’s audit committee.

Larry Dean Ditto, Jr. was appointed as Interim Chief Financial Officer of Akerna effective May 17, 2022, and he has served as accounting and financial consultant for Akerna since April 21, 2022. Mr. Ditto is the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) of Mydecine Innovations Group, Inc (“Mydecine”), where he has served as CFO since December 2020 and will continue to serve as CFO concurrent to his service as the Company’s Interim CFO. Prior to his service at Mydecine, Mr. Ditto served Sigue Corporation from June 2019 through December 2020. He was the company’s CFO and, following his CFO tenure, also supported the company as a Financial Consultant. He served as the Vice President and Corporate Controller of OSI Systems, Inc. from April 2018 through June 2019 and the CFO of DLH Davinci LLC (Dental Lab Holdings) from January 2016 through April 2018. Mr. Ditto holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Management from Albion College and holds a Master of Business Administration from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

Ray Thompson was appointed Special Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer in May 2022, and he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Akerna from January 2022 to May 2022 and Chief Operating Officer from November 2018 to January 2022. From November 2016 to January 2018, Mr. Thompson worked as the head of customer and sales Operations for Gloo, a people development SaaS company. During that time, Mr. Thompson reported to the executive team to develop and execute on market strategies, product offerings, financial projections, and talent management. From October 2008 to October 2016, Mr. Thompson served as corporate senior vice president of VisionLink, a multiagency humanitarian software platform, managing across all aspects of the business providing enterprise SaaS solutions to federal and state governments and international humanitarian organizations. From 1996 to 2008, Mr. Thompson served in various executive sales and marketing roles across multiple technologies companies. Mr. Thompson holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Denver.

David McCullough has served as Chief Technology Officer of Akerna since July 1, 2020. Mr. McCullough has been with Akerna and MJF since 2015, previously serving as Akerna’s executive vice president of product & engineering. Before joining MJF, Mr. McCullough was the Chief Technology Officer of StudentPublishing.com, during that time, he actively managed the technical aspects of Student Publishing’s sale to and system integration with lulu.com. Mr. McCullough has over 16 years of software engineering experience, including extensive government systems experience. Mr. McCullough has previously served as a professor at New Mexico State University where he taught courses in data communications and networking. Mr. McCullough holds a master’s degree in Computer Science. MCSE, CCNP, A+. N+.

Board Qualifications

Our Board has not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met by each of its officers or directors or specific qualities or skills that are necessary for one or more of its officers or members of the Board to possess. However, we expect to generally evaluate the following qualities: educational background, diversity of professional experience, including whether the person is a current or was a former chief executive officer or chief financial officer of a public company or the head of a division of a prominent organization, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.

Our officers and the Board will be composed of a diverse group of leaders in their respective fields. Many of these officers or directors have senior leadership experience at various companies. In these positions, they have also gained experience in core management skills, such as strategic and financial planning, public company financial reporting, compliance, risk management, and leadership development. Many of our officers and directors also have experience serving on boards of directors and/or board committees of other public companies and private companies, and have an understanding of corporate governance practices and trends, which provides an understanding of different business processes, challenges, and strategies. Further, these officers and directors also have other experience that makes them valuable, such as managing and investing assets or facilitating the consummation of business investments and combinations.

We, along with our officers and directors, believe that the above-mentioned attributes, along with the leadership skills and other experiences of our officers and board members described above, provide us with a diverse range of perspectives and judgment necessary to facilitate our goals of shareholder value appreciation through organic and acquisition growth.

Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors

Our Board is divided into three classes: Class I; Class II; and Class III. The directors in Class I have a term expiring at this Annual Meeting and again at the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders, the directors in Class II have a term expiring at the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders, and the directors in Class III have a term expiring at the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders. The Class I directors are Matthew R. Kane and Tahira Rehmatullah, the Class II director is Scott Sozio, and the Class III directors are Jessica Billingsley and Barry Fishman.

Our officers are appointed by the Board and serve at the discretion of the Board, rather than for specific terms of office. Our Board is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our Amended and Restated Bylaws as it deems appropriate.

Arrangements between Officers and Directors

To our knowledge, there is no arrangement or understanding between any of our officers and any other person, including Directors, pursuant to which the officer was selected to serve as an officer.

Family Relationships

None of our Directors are related by blood, marriage, or adoption to any other Director, executive officer, or other key employees.  

Other Directorships

None of the Directors of Akerna are currently also directors of issuers with a class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act (or which otherwise are required to file periodic reports under the Exchange Act).  In the past five years, Mr. Fishman has served as a director to Merus Labs International Inc., Aurora Cannabis Inc., Field Trip Health Ltd., and VIVO Cannabis Inc.; and Ms. Rehmatullah served as a director for Good Works Acquisition Corp. from August 2020 to August 2021.

Legal Proceedings

We are not aware of any of our directors or officers being involved in any legal proceedings in the past ten years relating to any matters in bankruptcy, insolvency, criminal proceedings (other than traffic and other minor offenses) or being subject to any of the items set forth under Item 401(f) of Regulation S-K.

Director Independence

The Board evaluates the independence of each nominee for election as a director of our Company in accordance with the Listing Rules (the “Nasdaq Listing Rules”) of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”). Pursuant to these rules, a majority of our Board must be “independent directors” within the meaning of the Nasdaq Listing Rules, and all directors who sit on our Audit Committee, Nominating Committee and Compensation Committee must also be independent directors.

The Nasdaq definition of “independence” includes a series of objective tests, such as the director or director nominee is not, and was not during the last three years, an employee of the Company and has not received certain payments from, or engaged in various types of business dealings with, the Company. In addition, as further required by the Nasdaq Listing Rules, the Board has made a subjective determination as to each independent director that no relationships exist which, in the opinion of the Board, would interfere with such individual’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out his or her responsibilities as a director. In making these determinations, the Board reviewed and discussed information provided by the directors with regard to each director’s business and personal activities as they may relate to Company and its management.

As a result, the Board has affirmatively determined that each of Matthew R. Kane, Tahira Rehmatullah, and Barry Fishman are independent in accordance with the Nadsaq Listing Rules. The Board has also affirmatively determined that all members of our Audit Committee, Nominating Committee and Compensation Committee are independent directors.

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

Summary Compensation Table 

Our named executive officers for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 are Jessica Billingsley, our Chief Executive Officer, John Fowle, our former Chief Financial Officer, Ray Thompson, our former President and Chief Operating Officer, David McCullough, our Chief Technology Officer and Nina Simosko, our former Chief Commercial Officer.

The following table sets forth all information concerning the compensation earned, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, six-month transition period ended December 31, 2020, and for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 for services rendered to us by persons who served as our named executive officers at the end of December 31, 2021.

Employment Agreements

Jessica Billingsley

In connection with the consummation of the mergers on June 17, 2019, Ms. Billingsley and Akerna entered into an employment agreement, dated June 17, 2019 (the “Billingsley Employment Agreement”). Under the terms of the Billingsley Employment Agreement, Ms. Billingsley serves at the Chief Executive Officer of Akerna at will, and must devote substantially all of her working time, skill and attention to her position and to the business and interests of Akerna (except for customary exclusions).

Akerna pays Ms. Billingsley an annual base salary in the amount of $250,000. The base salary is subject to (1) review at least annually by the Board for increase, but not decrease, and (2) automatic increase by an amount equal to $50,000 from its then current level on the date upon which Akerna’s aggregate, gross consolidated trailing twelve month (TTM) revenue equals the product of (x) two multiplied by (y) Akerna’s TTM revenue as of the Closing. Effective October 1, 2021, Ms. Billingsley’s annual base salary was increased to $300,000. Within ten days of the consummation of the Merger Agreement, Akerna paid Ms. Billingsley a completion award in a single lump sum of $95,000.

Ms. Billingsley will be eligible for an annual bonus (the “Annual Bonus”) with respect to each fiscal year ending during her employment. Her target annual cash bonus shall be in the amount of one hundred percent (100%) of her base salary (the “Target Bonus”) with the opportunity to earn greater than the Target Bonus upon achievement of above target performance. The amount of the Annual Bonus shall be determined by the Board on the basis of fulfillment of the objective performance criteria established in its reasonable discretion. The performance criteria for any particular fiscal year shall be set no later than ninety days after the commencement of the relevant fiscal year. For the 2021 fiscal year, the Annual Bonus shall be determined based upon four (4) budget components (B2B Software Revenue, B2G Software Revenue, Services Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA) and NPS Scores With regards to the budget components, each scales linearly between achieving 75% to 100%, and greater than 100% with respect to the B2B Software Revenue, B2G Software Revenue, and Adjusted EBITDA target budget components respectively, of the applicable fiscal year’s budget for each such component (with 50% of the Target Bonus payable upon achievement of 75% of budget, 100% of the Target Bonus payable upon achievement of budget (and, with respect to the B2B Software Revenue, B2G Software Revenue, and Adjusted EBITDA budget components, with 200% of each weighted portion of the Target Bonus payable upon achievement of 125% of the corresponding component of budget, with linear interpolation between points. Accelerator to be paid at the discretion of the Board of Directors in cash, stock, or both. For the transition period 2020 and the 2020 fiscal year, the Annual Bonus was determined based upon the following four (4) budget components, each of which scales linearly between achieving 75% to 100%, and greater than 100% with respect to the Platform Recurring Revenue (as defined in Billingsley Employment Agreement) and Government Recurring Revenue (as defined in Billingsley Employment Agreement) budget components respectively, of the applicable fiscal year’s budget for each such component (with 50% of the Target Bonus payable upon achievement of 75% of budget, 100% of the Target Bonus payable upon achievement of budget (and, with respect to the Platform Recurring Revenue and Government Recurring Revenue budget components, with 200% of each weighted portion of the Target Bonus payable upon achievement of 125% of the corresponding component of budget, with linear interpolation between points)). During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, due to achieving targets Ms. Billingsley received a bonus of $54,750 and she received a discretionary share bonus of $90,000 worth of the Company’s shares of Common Stock based on the 10-day volume weighted average price as of the date of the award, which resulted in the issuance of 19,694 shares of Common Stock with a grant date fair value of $83,109. During the transition period ended December 31, 2020, due to achieving targets Ms. Billingsley received a bonus of $81,625.

Ms. Billingsley is entitled to participate in annual equity awards and employee benefits. She is indemnified by Akerna to for any and all expenses (including advancement and payment of attorneys’ fees) and losses arising out of or relating to any of her actual or alleged acts, omissions, negligence or active or passive wrongdoing, including, the advancement of expenses she incurs. The foregoing indemnification is in addition to the indemnification provided to her by Akerna pursuant to her Indemnification Agreement.

In the event of Ms. Billingsley’s termination for cause or without good reason, Akerna will be obligated to pay any accrued but unpaid base salary and any annual bonus earned and awarded for the fiscal year prior to that in which the termination occurs. In the event of Ms. Billingsley’s termination without cause or with good reason, Akerna will be obligated to pay any accrued but unpaid base salary, any annual bonus earned and awarded for the fiscal year prior to that in which the termination occurs, a cash severance payment equal to her base salary, pro-rated annual bonus for the fiscal year in which the termination occurs through the date of termination, and twelve months of health benefits.

The Billingsley Employment Agreement also contains noncompetition and non-solicitation provisions that apply through her employment and for a term of one year thereafter, and which are in addition to the noncompetition and non-solicitation provisions prescribed under a certain Non-Competition Agreement between Ms. Billingsley and Akerna. The Billingsley Employment Agreement also contains a non-disparagement provision that apply through her employment and for a term of two years thereafter.

John Fowle

On December 17, 2019, Mr. Fowle entered into a letter agreement with Akerna. Mr. Fowle served as the Chief Financial Officer of Akerna at will. Akerna paid Mr. Fowle an annual base salary of $200,000 in 2021. At the Board’s discretion, Mr. Fowle may be eligible for a bonus. Under the Company’s 2022 executive compensation structure, Mr. Fowle received a base salary of $250,000 and Mr. Fowle’s performance target annual cash bonus was to be 25% of his base salary. Mr. Fowle received a grant of approximately $800,000 of restricted stock units, which will vest as to 25% on the first anniversary of the grant date, as to the next 25% on the second anniversary of the grant date, as to the next 25% on the third anniversary of the grant date and as to the remaining 25% on the fourth anniversary of the grant date. Mr. Fowle was entitled to participate in employee benefits. Upon a change of control transaction, Mr. Fowle’s unvested restricted stock units or any other equity interests that he may be granted, will immediately vest. If Mr. Fowle’s employment is terminated by Akerna without cause or by him with good reason, he is entitled to his base salary through the date of termination.

Akerna entered into an Employee Covenant Agreement with Mr. Fowle, which obligates Mr. Fowle from disclosing any confidential information, including without limitation, trade secrets. The agreement also prohibits Mr. Fowle during the term of his employment and for a period of two years after his employment from soliciting any customer, client, employee, supplier or vendor of Akerna, and rendering any services or giving advice to any competitor or affiliate of a competitor. The agreement also requires Mr. Fowle to return all Akerna property and disclose all work product to Akerna.

On May 11, 2022, Akerna and Mr. Fowle agreed to a mutual separation effective as of May 17, 2022.

Larry Dean Ditto, Jr.

Prior to Mr. Ditto’s appointment as Interim CFO, the Company and Mr. Ditto entered into a consultant agreement dated April 21, 2022 (the “Consulting Agreement”). Pursuant to the Consulting Agreement, Mr. Ditto has agreed to perform certain financial and accounting related services. The Company will pay Mr. Ditto a monthly fee of $12,000 for performance of services up to 80 hours per calendar month. If Mr. Ditto performs more than 240 hours of service per calendar quarter, Mr. Ditto will be paid $150 per hour for additional services performed exceeding 240 hours per calendar quarter, subject to the Company’s approval of such additional services. In the event that Mr. Ditto becomes a full-time employee during the term of the Consulting Agreement, the Company will grant Mr. Ditto restricted stock units that are valued at $25,000 and will immediately vest upon the grant. Unless terminated by either party in accordance with the Consulting Agreement, the Consulting Agreement will terminate after 12 months. The term of the Consulting Agreement can be extended by mutual agreement between the Company and Mr. Ditto. Mr. Ditto is also eligible for a one-time $18,000 bonus if an acquisition of the Company occurs, subject to certain terms and conditions. Mr. Ditto’s compensation as described above under the Consulting Agreement has not changed as a result of his appointment as Interim CFO.

Ray Thompson

On October 19, 2018, Mr. Thompson entered into a letter agreement with Akerna’s wholly owned subsidiary MJ Freeway LLC. Mr. Thompson served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Akerna at will. Akerna paid Mr. Thompson an annual base salary of $200,000 in 2021. As part of his appointment as the Company’s President under the Company’s 2022 executive compensation structure, Mr. Thompson received an annual base salary of $275,000 and Mr. Thompson’s performance target annual cash bonus shall be 25% of his base salary. At the Board’s discretion, Mr. Thompson may be eligible for a bonus. Upon a change of control transaction, Mr. Thompson’s unvested restricted stock units or any other equity interests that he may be granted, will immediately vest. If Mr. Thompson’s employment is terminated by Akerna without cause or by him with good reason, he is entitled to his base salary through the date of termination.

Akerna entered into an Employee Covenant Agreement with Mr. Thompson, which obligates Mr. Thompson from disclosing any confidential information, including without limitation, trade secrets. The agreement also prohibits Mr. Thompson during the term of his employment and for a period of two years after his employment from soliciting any customer, client, employee, supplier or vendor of Akerna, and rendering any services or giving advice to any competitor or affiliate of a competitor. The agreement also requires Mr. Thompson to return all Akerna property and disclose all work product to Akerna.

On May 16, 2022, Akerna and Mr. Thompson agreed to a transition, effective immediately, by which Mr. Thompson will move from his current role as President and Chief Operating Officer to Special Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer. In that role, Mr. Thompson will continue to assist the Chief Executive Officer with certain of the day-to-day operations of the Company and advise the Company on various aspects of corporate strategy.

David McCullough

Mr. McCullough does not have a formal letter agreement with Akerna in relation to his employment as the Chief Technology Officer. Akerna paid Mr. McCullough an annual base salary of $200,000 for 2021. Under the Company’s 2022 executive compensation structure, Mr. McCullough will receive a base salary of $250,000 and Mr. McCullough’s performance target annual cash bonus shall be 25% of his base salary. At the Board’s discretion, Mr. McCullough may be eligible for a bonus. Upon a change of control transaction, Mr. McCullough’s unvested restricted stock units or any other equity interests that he may be granted, will immediately vest. If Mr. McCullough’s employment is terminated by Akerna without cause or by him with good reason, he is entitled to his base salary through the date of termination.

Akerna entered into an Employee Covenant Agreement with Mr. McCullough, which obligates Mr. McCullough from disclosing any confidential information, including without limitation, trade secrets. The agreement also prohibits Mr. McCullough during the term of his employment and for a period of two years after his employment from soliciting any customer, client, employee, supplier or vendor of Akerna, and rendering any services or giving advice to any competitor or affiliate of a competitor. The agreement also requires Mr. McCullough to return all Akerna property and disclose all work product to Akerna.

Nina Simosko

On September 23, 2019, Ms. Simosko entered into a letter agreement with Akerna. Ms. Simosko serves as the Chief Revenue Officer of Akerna at will. Akerna pays Ms. Simosko an annual base salary of $200,000. At the Board’s discretion, Ms. Simosko may be eligible for a bonus. Ms. Simosko received an approximate grant of $1,000,000 of restricted stock units, which will vest as to 25% on the first anniversary of the grant date, as to the next 25% on the second anniversary of the grant date, as to the next 25% on the third anniversary of the grant date and as to the remaining 25% on the fourth anniversary of the grant date. Upon a change of control transaction, Ms. Simosko’s unvested restricted stock units or any other equity interests that she may be granted, will immediately vest. If Ms. Simosko’s employment is terminated by Akerna without cause or by her with good reason, she is entitled to her base salary through the date of termination and the immediate vesting of 33% of the restricted stock units that are unvested on the date of termination. Ms. Simosko is entitled to reimbursement of reasonable expense incurred with her relocation to Denver, Colorado, in amount not to exceed $5,000. Ms. Simosko is entitled to participate in employee benefits.

Akerna entered into an Employee Covenant Agreement with Ms. Simosko, which obligates Ms. Simosko from disclosing any confidential information, including without limitation, trade secrets. The agreement also prohibits Ms. Simosko during the term of her employment and for a period of two years after her employment from soliciting any customer, client, employee, supplier or vendor of Akerna, and rendering any services or giving advice to any competitor or affiliate of a competitor. The agreement also requires Ms. Simosko to return all Akerna property and disclose all work product to Akerna.

Ms. Simosko ceased to be the Chief Commercial Officer on January 31, 2022.

Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End

A summary of the number and the value of the outstanding equity awards as of December 31, 2021 held by the named executive officers is set out in the table below.

Options

There were no options granted in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.

Pension Benefits

None of our employees participate in or have account balances in qualified or non-qualified defined benefit plans sponsored by us. Our Compensation Committee may elect to adopt qualified or non-qualified benefit plans in the future if it determines that doing so is in our company’s best interest.

Non-qualified Deferred Compensation

None of our employees participate in or have account balances in non-qualified defined contribution plans or other non-qualified deferred compensation plans maintained by us. Our Compensation Committee may elect to provide our officers and other employees with non-qualified defined contribution or other non-qualified compensation benefits in the future if it determines that doing so is in our company’s best interest.

Director Compensation

The following table sets forth the compensation granted to our directors who are not also executive officers during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. Compensation to directors that are also executive officers is detailed above and is not included on this table.

Narrative Disclosure to Director Compensation Table

Compensation granted to our directors who are not also executive officers or employees during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 included $43,500 paid in 50% in cash and 50% in stock. Amounts earned in cash are paid quarterly. Stock awards vest quarterly over the fiscal year.

Compensation Policies and Practices and Risk Management

The Compensation Committee has reviewed the design and operation of Akerna’s compensation policies and practices for all employees, including executives, as they relate to risk management practices and risk-taking incentives. The Compensation Committee believes that Akerna’s compensation policies and practices do not encourage unnecessary or excessive risk taking and that any risks arising from Akerna’s compensation policies and practices for its employees are not reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on Akerna.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

No member of the Compensation Committee has ever been an officer or employee of Akerna. None of Akerna’s executive officers serve, or have served during the last fiscal year, as a member of the board of directors, compensation committee, or other board committee performing equivalent functions of any other entity that has one or more executive officers serving as one of Akerna’s directors or on the Compensation Committee.

SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS

The following table sets forth information concerning beneficial ownership of Akerna’s capital stock outstanding as of the date of this prospectus, by: (1) each stockholder known to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of any class of Akerna’s voting stock then outstanding; (2) each of Akerna’s directors and nominees to serve as director; (3) each of Akerna’s named executive officers; and (4) Akerna’s current directors and executive officers as a group.

As of June 28, 2022 there were 36,796,522 shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding. Each share entitles the holder thereof to one vote.

The information regarding beneficial ownership of shares of Common Stock has been presented in accordance with the rules of the SEC. Under these rules, a person may be deemed to beneficially own any shares of capital stock as to which such person, directly or indirectly, has or shares voting power or investment power, and as to which such person has the right to acquire voting or investment power within 60 days through the exercise of any stock option or other right. The percentage of beneficial ownership as to any person as of a particular date is calculated by dividing (1) (i) the number of shares beneficially owned by such person plus (ii) the number of shares as to which such person has the right to acquire voting or investment power within 60 days by (2) the total number of shares outstanding as of such date, plus any shares that such person has the right to acquire from Akerna within 60 days. Including those shares in the tables does not, however, constitute an admission that the named stockholder is a direct or indirect beneficial owner of those shares. Unless otherwise indicated, each person or entity named in the table has sole voting power and investment power (or shares that power with that person’s spouse) with respect to all shares of capital stock listed as owned by that person or entity.

Change in Control

We are not aware of any arrangement that might result in a change in control in the future. We have no knowledge of any arrangements, including any pledge by any person of our securities, the operation of which may at a subsequent date result in a change in Akerna’s control.

CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE

Employment of Scott Sozio

In July 2019, we hired Mr. Scott Sozio, at will, to serve as our Head of Corporate Development. As restructured in August 2020, Mr. Sozio receives an annual base salary of $150,000, a one-time grant of $600,000 in restricted stock units (92,166 restricted stock units) issued in August 2020 vesting over 4 years, as discussed below, and deal related compensation of 0.5% of the transaction value of acquisition completed by Akerna, payable one-half in restricted stock units of Akerna at the option of the Board.

In April 2020, Mr. Sozio was granted 1,230 restricted stock units of the Akerna under our 2019 Equity Incentive Plan in relation to the closing of our acquisition of Trellis, which vested immediately. In August of 2020, Mr. Sozio’s compensation was restructured and he was granted 92,166 restricted stock units, which vest one quarter each year beginning on July 1, 2021. In September 2020, Mr. Sozio was granted 10,000 restricted stock units as part of our annual employee grants, which vest one quarter each year beginning on July 1, 2021 and 38,527 restricted stock units in connection with the closing of our acquisition of Ample, which vested immediately. In April 2021, Mr. Sozio was granted 2,976 restricted stock units of the Akerna under our 2019 Equity Incentive Plan in relation to the closing of our acquisition of Viridian, which vested immediately. In October 2021, Mr. Sozio was granted 29,210 restricted stock units of the Akerna under our 2019 Equity Incentive Plan in relation to the closing of our acquisition of 365 Cannabis, which vested immediately. In April 2021, Mr. Sozio was granted 10,000 restricted stock units as part of our annual employee grants, which vest one quarter each year beginning on December 1, 2021.

TechMagic

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we have been invoiced through our wholly-owned subsidiary Solo by TechMagic USA LLC, a Massachusetts limited liability, in an amount of approximately $657,000. When we acquired Solo in January 2020, there was an open balance payable to TechMagic of approximately $265,000. Subsequently, during the remainder of our fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we received invoices totaling an aggregate additional amount of approximately $392,000. After our year ended June 30, 2020, through to the date hereof, we have received invoices totaling an aggregate amount of approximately $375,000. Currently, there are outstanding invoices totaling approximately $767,000. The invoices set forth services that TechMagic USA LLC purports to have provided to Solo regarding development of mobile software applications for MJF and Solo between March and November 2020. Mr. Ashesh Shah, formerly the president of Solo and currently the beneficial holder of 6.2% of our issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock is, to our knowledge, the founder and one of the principal managers of TechMagic USA LLC. The invoices state that the services were rendered pursuant to the terms of an agreement regarding the development of mobile software products for Solo, entered into between Solo and TechMagic at a time when Mr. Shah was a principal at both entities. On December 4, 2020, TechMagic filed suit against Solo in Massachusetts Superior Court seeking recovery of up to approximately $1.07 million. Akerna provided a notice of termination of the Master Services Agreement on November 23, 2020 and the parties dispute the effective date of the termination. Solo disputes the validity of the invoices, in whole or in part, and intends to defend the suit vigorously. Mr. Ashesh Shah, formerly the president of Solo and currently the holder of less than 5% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock is, to our knowledge, the founder and one of the principal managers of TechMagic USA LLC. As of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, we recognized a loss contingency of $0.5 million and $0.6 million, respectively.

Indemnification

Akerna’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions limiting the liability of directors, and its amended and restated bylaws provides that it will indemnify the directors and executive officers to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law. Akerna’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws also provides the board of directors with discretion to indemnify the other officers, employees, and agents when determined appropriate by the board of directors. In addition, Akerna entered into an indemnification agreement with each of its directors and executive officers, which requires it to indemnify them.

Related Person Transactions Policy and Procedure

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

Ours audit committee, pursuant to its written charter, is responsible for reviewing and approving related-party transactions to the extent we enter into such transactions. The audit committee will consider all relevant factors when determining whether to approve a related party transaction, including whether the related party transaction is on terms no less favorable to us than terms generally available from an unaffiliated third-party under the same or similar circumstances and the extent of the related party’s interest in the transaction.

Director Independence

The Board evaluates the independence of each nominee for election as a director of our Company in accordance with the Nasdaq Listing Rules. Pursuant to these rules, a majority of our Board must be “independent directors” within the meaning of the Nasdaq Listing Rules, and all directors who sit on our Audit Committee, Nominating Committee and Compensation Committee must also be independent directors.

The Nasdaq definition of “independence” includes a series of objective tests, such as the director or director nominee is not, and was not during the last three years, an employee of Akerna or our subsidiaries and has not received certain payments from, or engaged in various types of business dealings with us. In addition, as further required by the Nasdaq Listing Rules, the Board has made a subjective determination as to each independent director that no relationships exist, which, in the opinion of the Board, would interfere with such individual’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out his or her responsibilities as a director. In making these determinations, the Board reviewed and discussed information provided by the directors with regard to each director’s business and personal activities as they may relate to Company and its management.

As a result, the Board has affirmatively determined that each of Matthew R. Kane, Tahira Rehmatullah, and Barry Fishman are independent in accordance with the Nadsaq Listing Rules. The Board has also affirmatively determined that all members of our Audit Committee, Nominating Committee and Compensation Committee are independent directors.

CERTAIN MATERIAL U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS

The following is a general discussion of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations relating to the purchase, ownership and disposition of units, consisting of shares of common stock and warrants, and pre-funded units, consisting of pre-funded warrants and warrants, the acquisition, ownership, and disposition of shares of common stock acquired as part of the units, the acquisition, ownership, and disposition of pre-funded warrants acquired as part of the pre-funded units, the exercise, disposition, or expiration of warrants acquired as part of the units or pre-funded units, the acquisition, ownership, and disposition of shares of common stock received upon exercise of the pre-funded warrants, and the acquisition, ownership, and disposition of shares of common stock received upon exercise of the warrants (the “warrant shares”), all as acquired pursuant to this prospectus. This discussion is based on current provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”), existing and proposed U.S. Treasury Regulations promulgated or proposed thereunder and current administrative and judicial interpretations thereof, all as in effect as of the date of this prospectus and all of which are subject to change or to differing interpretation, possibly with retroactive effect. This summary does not discuss the potential effects, whether adverse or beneficial, of any proposed legislation that, if enacted, could be applied on a retroactive or prospective basis. We have not sought and will not seek any rulings from the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”), regarding the matters discussed below. There can be no assurance that the IRS or a court will not take a contrary position.