AUDIOEYE INC - Annual Report: 2018 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the transition period from [  ] to [  ]

Commission file number 333-177463 

AudioEye, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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

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

None

(Title of class)

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

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the last 90 days.  Yes  x   No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).  Yes x  No ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ¨

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

(Check one):

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).  Yes ¨   No x

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2018 was $19,966,655.

As of March 20, 2019, 7,623,227 shares of the registrant’s common stock were issued and outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

Portions of the definitive Proxy Statement to be delivered to stockholders in connection with the registrant’s 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders scheduled to be held on May 10, 2019 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This annual report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). These statements relate to either future events or our future financial performance. In some cases, you may be able to identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue,” the negative of these terms or other synonymous terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risks in the section entitled “Risk Factors,” that may cause our or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Because these forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause actual results, events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other factors discussed in “Part I—Item 1A. Risk Factors” contained in this Annual Report. Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements include but are not limited to risks related to:

All forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States, we do not intend, and we do undertake any obligation, to revise or update any of the forward-looking statements to match actual results. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made in this report, which aim to inform interested parties of the risks factors that may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

As used in this annual report, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” “AudioEye,” the “Company” and similar references refer to AudioEye, Inc.

PART I

Item 1. Business

Overview

AudioEye is a marketplace leader providing digital accessibility technology solutions for our clients’ customers through our Ally Platform products. Our solutions advance accessibility with patented technology that reduces barriers, expands access for individuals with disabilities, and enhances the user experience for a broader audience of users. We believe that, when implemented our solutions offer businesses the opportunity to reach more customers, improve brand image, build additional brand loyalty, and, most importantly, provide an accessible and usable web experience to the expansive and ever-growing population of individuals with disabilities throughout the world. In addition, our solutions help organizations comply with internationally accepted Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) as well as U.S., Canadian, Australian, and United Kingdom accessibility laws.

We generate revenues through the sale of subscriptions of our software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) technology platform, called the AudioEye Ally Platform, to website owners, publishers, developers, Content Management System (“CMS”) platform providers and operators through the delivery of managed services combined with the implementation of our solutions. Our solutions have been adopted by some of the largest and most influential companies in the world. Our customers span disparate industries and target market verticals, which encompass (but are not limited to) the following categories: human resources, finance, retail/ecommerce, food services, automotive, transportation, hospitality, media, and education. Government agencies, both at the federal level and state and local levels have also integrated our software in their digital platforms.

AudioEye customers fall into one of two distinct sales channels: direct and indirect. In the direct channel, AudioEye sales personnel engage directly with the customer. In the indirect channel, AudioEye engages with customers, who are referred to as Indirect Channel Partners, who provide a website hosting platform for their end-user customers, and who serve as an authorized reseller of the AudioEye solution to their customers. Indirect channel sales have been a key factor in the acceleration of the AudioEye sales and marketing strategy. By working with strategically identified resellers, these partners provide a unique opportunity allowing AudioEye to onboard more end-user customers in a shorter period of time. By working with providers of the proprietary content management systems, AudioEye leverages economies of scale to deliver the AudioEye solution in a cost-effective and highly efficient way. In middle and lower markets, this strategy has helped make accessibility accessible to industries that would otherwise neglect the important issue of digital inclusion, altogether. We believe that there is significant opportunity for us to increase revenues by delivering our solutions through this indirect channel and therefore will continue to invest capital and resources in expanding our strategic partner business.

Industry Background

Millions of Internet users are impacted by disabilities that prevent them from accessing and using digital content on an equivalent basis. If not coded properly, a website may not offer full functionality for all users, in particular for users of assistive technology (“AT”), such as a screen reader. As a result, they may exclude potential users and customers. These sites also may not comply with U.S. and foreign laws addressing equal access and digital inclusion.

Traditional solutions addressing web accessibility may be costly and difficult to implement. Historically, the process for achieving compliance has been driven by costly consulting services and has not fully utilized emerging technologies to reduce the compliance cost burden. At the same time, web accessibility efforts have generally focused on a limited number of disability use cases, leaving many users’ accessibility needs for digital inclusion unaddressed. Businesses may have been reluctant to invest further in web accessibility solutions due to a perceived lack of commercial return on the significant investment required in order to design and implement a thorough and usable compliance solution.

Conventional solutions have been developed to help users access websites, but these systems often require plug-ins or software to be installed on the user’s computer. Many of these solutions are tailored to single or a limited number of use cases and do not encompass a more holistic approach for addressing a wider range of use cases. In some cases, these systems can be costly, unwieldy and inconvenient. Furthermore, the assistive software’s ability to understand, process, and interpret complex and dynamic web applications that are prevalent across the web today is dependent on the quality in which the code was designed and developed, including the level to which the website adheres to best practices and standards. 

Intellectual Property

Our intellectual property is primarily comprised of trade secrets, trademarks, issued, published and pending patent applications, copyrights and technological innovation. We have a patent portfolio comprised of six issued patents in the United States and we have received notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a seventh patent; we have four published/pending patent applications, one pending patent application and one patent application being prepared for filing with the Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”) (internationally).

We have a trademark portfolio comprised of one allowed trademark application, two published trademark applications, and six trademark registrations.

Our current patented invention relates to a server-side method and apparatus that enables users to audibly navigate websites and hear high-quality streaming audio narration and descriptions of websites. This patented invention involves creating an audio-enabled web experience by utilizing voice talent and automated text-to-speech conversion methods to read and describe web content.

Our current portfolio has established a foundation for building unique technology solutions that contribute to the way in which we differentiate ourselves from other competitors in the B2B Web Accessibility marketplace. We plan to continue to invest in research and development and expand our portfolio of proprietary intellectual property.

Business Plan and Strategy

Leveraging our own patented Ally Platform product suite, we provide cloud-based, enterprise-grade technology solutions, as well as managed services to fully implement our solution and position our clients’ sites to more fully conform with web accessibility best practices. Our technology and professional service offerings may be purchased through a subscription service for either a one-year or multi-year term. Functionally, the business is organized into Executive, Sales, Marketing, Engineering (which includes intellectual property development), Implementation, Quality Assurance, and Customer Experience. Intellectual property development is tasked with the development of new leading-edge intellectual property.

Through the sale of managed and self-service contracts, our business model is to sell Business to Business and to secure revenue from multiple business channels, including (but not limited to): providers of CMS, corporate website owners, publishers, developers, and operators, federal, state and local governments, educational institutions, e-learning and e-commerce websites, kiosk companies, and not-for-profit organizations.

In what Forrester Research, Inc., a market research company that provides advice on existing and potential impact of technology, has called the “age of the customer”, we believe that, by adopting our solutions, our customers gain a competitive advantage by ensuring a superior digital experience for all of their customers, in particular for persons with diverse abilities. Some of the many leading advantages of our solution include:

Our primary objective is to establish and maintain a long-standing relationship with our customers, as a trusted and reliable provider of web accessibility technology and services.

Product Service Offerings

AudioEye uses proprietary technology and development tools to offer advanced web accessibility fully-managed solutions that offer significant savings in time and money relative to traditional solutions. Our compliance solutions focus on rapid remediation of common accessibility issues, followed by in-depth analysis identifying and addressing a more comprehensive compliance program. Our technology was built to not only provide users with a cloud-based assistive toolset that gets embedded and made freely available to users within our client websites, but to also improve the code in a way that optimizes the user experience for users of existing third-party assistive technologies, such as screen readers.

We offer a diversified portfolio of service offerings that are broken into two broad business categories: subscription to our web accessibility technology platform and managed services.

Our web accessibility technology platform (The AudioEye Ally Platform) consists of the Digital Accessibility Platform and Ally Managed Service, which are offered as an Internet Cloud SaaS subscription service. AudioEye offers two distinct Web Accessibility solution offerings: Digital Accessibility Platform and Ally Managed Service.

The AudioEye Digital Accessibility Platform empowers web developers to improve their websites using the most current, innovative, and industry-leading tools. The Digital Accessibility Platform is primarily a self-service solution for clients who want to own the accessibility process from beginning to end and puts the power of accessibility issue tracking, auditing and remediation in the hands of developers. This improves the usability and accessibility of their web infrastructures. For organizations that are developing web accessibility, this robust site evaluation tool provides detailed information to help developers and designers fully understand the identified issues as well as the different WCAG 2.1 best practices that may be implemented in order to improve their website through changes implemented at the source. WCAG 2.1 covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content more accessible. Following these guidelines will make content more accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including accommodations for blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity, and combinations of these, and some accommodation for learning disabilities and cognitive limitations.

For organizations looking to offload the accessibility process, the Ally Managed Service allows AudioEye Accessibility Engineers and AT Usability Testers to do the vast majority of the heavy lifting in order to achieve accessibility and compliance for our clients. This unique offering leverages a balance of system and engineer generated remediation techniques to programmatically fix website problems that inhibit full access to our customers’ electronic information technologies. By providing our customers with full access to the Digital Accessibility Platform and working with them on a long-term basis to provide automated and manual testing in order to allow them to fully understand the issues of accessibility and how to develop with web accessibility in mind, AudioEye is able to reduce the burden on IT resources, leaving only limited work for finite client resources. In conjunction with the implementation of the AudioEye JavaScript, AudioEye makes available the option to publish the Ally Toolbar, which includes the Help Desk and Certification Statement. The Help Desk provides support for end-users who have issues accessing content, while the Certification Statement outlines our client’s commitment to providing an accessible and usable website experience for individuals with disabilities. As part of the Ally Managed Service, AudioEye makes available detailed reporting that provide the client with the results of web accessibility remediation efforts.

As an additional revenue source, AudioEye provides Managed Services that support the SaaS model infrastructure. When clients adopt the Digital Accessibility Platform as a self-service tool, AudioEye markets and sells managed services that include the following: Product Support, Accessibility Training from accessibility engineers and subject matter experts, Manual Assistive Technology Usability Testing, and other ad hoc services such as Video Transcription & Captioning, PDF Accessibility Solutions, Audio Description Authoring, Accessibility Help Desk, and more. These same services are also provided to customers adopting the Ally Managed Service solution and go beyond the inherent managed services that are part of the implementation of website remediation, the provision of the Ally Toolbar, and, ultimately, the certification of our clients’ websites and web applications.

Customers

Our potential customer base includes a broad range of private and public sector customers, including, in particular:

If we are unable to establish, maintain or replace our relationships with customers and develop a diversified customer base, our revenues may fluctuate, and our growth may be limited. The Company had one major customer (including their affiliates) which generated approximately 11.8% of its revenue in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. The Company had two major customers (including their respective affiliates) which generated approximately 18.0% and 10.4%, respectively, of its revenue in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.

Corporate Enterprises

Our management believes that corporate enterprises and the CMS platform providers are both markets for the Company’s products and services. Management believes that the AudioEye Ally Managed Service product provides a business advantage for our clients by enabling them to better reach the large population of customers who are not able to gain equal access to our clients’ content, products, and services delivered via their websites.

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted to help eliminate barriers to access. Just as building owners must implement physical accommodations to remove any physical barrier to access, transportation, or communication, website owners must adhere to Web Accessibility best practices in order to ensure barrier-free access to their websites and online materials. Over time, a website owner must maintain and prove their implementation of those techniques, such as those outlined within the globally recognized WCAG.

Government and Not-for-Profit Organizations

Federal and state laws require that the information and services made available across government agency websites meet the diverse and unique needs of all site visitors. Conforming to Web Accessibility best practices and guidelines helps ensure public access to government information and improves the value of agency investment in their websites and online services.

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Rehabilitation Act”) requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from a federal department or agency, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public without disabilities. The federal government also requires vendors selling to the government to be compliant under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, unless covered by a provable exception. Canada and the European Union have similar requirements.

Seniors and print-impaired individuals need the Internet’s critical access to fundamental state, local and federal government services and information such as tax forms, social programs, emergency services and legislative representatives. In addition, the roughly 120,000 federal employees with disabilities require Internet accessibility for workplace productivity. The AudioEye Reader in the cloud provides an intuitive Internet experience across all Internet-enabled devices without imposing any additional costs on end-users. For government site administrators, our Digital Accessibility Platform is designed to be user-friendly so that sites can be made accessible and maintained as part of any web management process.

Over 100 governments have signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Company’s certification seal demonstrates a website owner’s commitment to meeting internationally accepted accessibility standards (). As a result, our management believes that providing accessibility services for website owners and developers has become a significant market opportunity in view of the potential demand across millions of internet websites.

The AudioEye solution provides a unique approach to solving a pervasive issue that has inhibited government agencies from embracing efficiencies gained through adopting new cost-effective technological capabilities. More and more federal agencies are beginning to embrace cloud-based service offerings and to leverage the capabilities afforded through the adoption of third-party cloud-based service providers. Implementing the AudioEye solution allows federal, state, and local governments to provide constituents with a reliable, scalable, and fully accessible web environment. By pairing the AudioEye Solution with other disparate SaaS offerings, organizations can more readily comply with the ADA standards. Implementing AudioEye mitigates risk of non-conformance and goes beyond basic levels of compliance through the inclusion of free cloud-based assistive tools, which lives up to the spirit of ADA - a noble and necessary aspiration for all federal, state and local government agencies.

Our solutions are sold by our direct sales team and through strategic partnerships and resellers. This strategy enables us to address all the broad markets covered by our technology and allows for a depth and market penetration that we could never approach on our own.

Our management believes that the government market imposes certain barriers to entry to new potential entrants. However, our management believes that the potential for recurring revenue generation, the data value appreciation that occurs over time, and low turnover upon establishment of government business all contribute to ideal long-term conditions that make this a good market for us to conduct direct sales.

The federal government boasts nearly 2,000 top-level .gov domains and 24,000 websites of varying purpose, design, navigation, usability and accessibility. Including the 50 states and all local government websites, there are over 600,000 government websites in the United States.

Potential additional market segments of focus include, but are not limited to:

Marketing and Sales

In addition to direct sales with industry specialization and geographical diversification, we use strategic business partnerships and development referral partners, who maintain a long-standing successful track record in securing introductions with C-level executives and key stakeholders that directly influence the buying decision of our technology and services. As a proven means of breaking down barriers to entry and shortening sales cycles, these strategic relationships contribute to the success of our sales operation. Conveying the return on investment of our technology to our prospective clients is critical as a differentiator in our space. Success in all these efforts is not only critical in order to meet our sales objectives, but also raises market awareness of the Company’s products and brand.

The Company also attends selected accessibility and industry trade conferences, maintains memberships with key, industry-specific organizations, serves as subject matter experts within well-attended panels covering industry-related topics, leverages paid search engine optimization for those looking online to learn about or purchase accessibility products or services, and a variety of other conventional marketing and social marketing techniques.

Competition

Website accessibility can be achieved in one of two ways.

The traditional approach is called a “Shift Left” strategy. On the continuum of an organization’s software development life cycle, shift left refers to integrating universal design and accessibility testing and analysis as early on in a project (the design and development process) as possible. The idea is to prohibit inaccessible content from reaching production environments. For many businesses and organizations with the right resources and afforded a healthy amount of time, this is absolutely the right thing to do. Without a doubt, websites should be designed, developed, and created with web accessibility in mind. This is why AudioEye offers the Digital Accessibility Platform and provides resources for organizations seeking to empower internal stakeholders to become the subject matter experts. This approach, however, does little to assist organizations being sued for websites that are already live and public facing. No one has ever been sued for a website that was being built. By the thousands, per year, businesses are being sued because of the sites they have, today, and not the sites they are looking to build in the future.

This is where we come in. AudioEye makes websites accessible. In fact, we are proud to be the web accessibility company that revolutionized the way businesses and organizations achieve and maintain a sustainable path to digital inclusion. Our solution identifies and remediates accessibility issues with both automated and manual testing and engineering and provides continuous monitoring to ensure sites meet or exceed legal compliance with ADA-related laws and substantially conform with the WCAG, which is the internationally recognized benchmark used to ensure the needs of individuals of disabilities are addressed when it comes to creating and publishing websites and digital content.

Other competitive solutions are insufficient when it comes to actually achieving substantial conformance with WCAG and removing access barriers that may impede or limit access for individuals with disabilities. These tools include:

In summary, our management believes that the Company’s technology and solutions will primarily compete against the following:

Competitive Strengths

Our management believes the following competitive strengths will enable our success in the marketplace:

Our current portfolio has established a foundation for building unique technology solutions that contribute to the way in which we differentiate ourselves from other competitors in the B2B Web Accessibility marketplace. We are actively pursuing the expansion of this portfolio to include a broad range of pertinent and novel concepts that AudioEye has employed (or is in the process of employing) for our growing client list. In this continued pursuit of expanding the capabilities of our technology and meeting the demands of our customers, AudioEye is committed to growing its IP portfolio.

Patent and Trademark Rights

We have a portfolio comprised of six approved patents in the United States, and we have received a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a seventh patent. We also have several additional patents that are either pending or are being prepared for filing.

The patents have been extended and cover a period from 2002 through 2026. We have six issued patents and six registered trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Legal Landscape and Government Regulation

Government regulation in the United States that affects the market and commercial potential for our products and services includes the Rehabilitation Act, the ADA, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (“CVAA”), the Air Carrier Accessibility Act (“ACAA”), and various State Laws.

The Rehabilitation Act requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from a federal department or agency, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public without disabilities. The federal government also requires vendors selling to the government be compliant under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, unless covered by a provable exception. Canada and the European Union have similar requirements.

The ADA was passed to ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities. It applies to employment, transportation, state and local government services, and businesses that provide public accommodations or facilities.

Title II and Title III of the ADA prevent discrimination on the basis of disability in services, programs, and activities provided by public entities (Title II) and private entities considered to be places of public accommodation (Title III). Title II and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act continue to be actively enforced by the Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”), who has entered into hundreds of resolution agreements with School Districts and Education Institutions requiring conformance to WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria as managed and monitored through an OCR-validated Accessibility Auditor.

Under the previous administration, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) was in the process of formulating rules regarding the accessibility of websites and mobile applications. The DOJ had divided its rulemaking into two efforts: the first was intended to provide guidance to state and local entities to comply with Title II, and the second was intended to establish rules for private entities to comply with Title III. Under the new administration, the DOJ has placed the issuance of those rulemakings on the inactive list. However, we believe the absence of any rulemaking will only increase the prevalence of lawsuits filed by plaintiffs seeking issue resolution in continued pursuit of their civil rights as protected under ADA. According to a leading ADA law firm, Seyfarth Shaw, with over 2,258 federal lawsuits filed, federal ADA Title III lawsuits increased by 17% in 2018 due largely to Website Access Lawsuits. This trend is expected to increase in 2019.

Learn more at www.ada.gov.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Requires that federal agencies’ electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities, including employees and the public.

The U.S. Government Access Board has updated the requirements to Section 508 compliance standards, commonly referred to as the “Section 508 ICT Refresh,” further formalizing the mandate to adhere to specific web accessibility best practices, namely those outlined under the WCAG, the international standards for web accessibility. Already, a growing number of legal mandates and recent settlements point to the WCAG 2.1 standards as well as making it a requirement to hire third-party Accessibility Subject Matter Experts to maintain an accessibility audit and provide certification – sources range from the DOJ, the U.S. Access Board, and the OCR.

For more information, visit www.section508.gov.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act entitles individuals with disabilities to equal access to any program or activity that receives federal subsidy – this includes Web-based communications for educational institutions and government agencies.

In October 2010, the CVAA was enacted to update existing federal laws requiring communications and video programming accessibility and to fill in any current gaps in accessibility to ensure the full inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of daily living through accessible, affordable and usable communication and video programming technologies.

Per the Department of Transportation, the ACAA (49 U.S.C. 41705) prohibits discrimination by U.S. and foreign air carriers on the basis of physical or mental disability. The Department of Transportation, in interpreting and implementing the ACAA, has issued a rule setting forth the standards of service which air carriers are expected to provide to disabled individuals.

Beyond the federal level, many states have enacted accessibility laws and, going further, internationally, over 100 Governments have signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

As an example, the California Unruh Civil Rights Act, among other things, prohibits discrimination based on disability. More recently, a new law enacted in California, Assembly Bill 434 State Web Accessibility, states that prior to July 1, 2019, each State Agency Director or its Chief Information Officer must post on the homepage of its agency a declaration that the site has been made accessible by meeting the WCAG standards.

Given the many government regulations in place and/or in process, actions must be taken for businesses to comply with best practices and international standards. This presents a significant business opportunity as more pressure is being put on businesses and organizations to improve the accessibility of their web environments. In addition, from a risk mitigation standpoint, it is best if they consistently and reliably track and demonstrate their level of conformance to these internationally recognized standards over time, the WCAG 2.1.

Employees

As of March 5, 2019, we had 65 full-time employees. None of our employees is subject to a collective bargaining agreement and we believe that relations with our employees are very good. We have a "People First" cultural value we aspire to every day. We have a sincere focus on developing each team member to allow the team member to grow professionally and personally during his or her time with AudioEye.

Corporate Information

AudioEye, Inc. was formed as a Delaware corporation on May 20, 2005. On August 1, 2018, the Company amended its Certificate of Incorporation to implement a reverse stock split in the ratio of 1 share for every 25 shares of common stock and to reduce the number of authorized shares of common stock from 250,000,000 to 50,000,000. As a result, 186,994,384 shares of the Company’s common stock were exchanged for 7,479,775 shares of the Company's common stock. Our financial statements have been retroactively restated to reflect the reverse stock split.

Our principal executive offices are located at 5210 East Williams Circle, Suite 750, Tucson Arizona, 85711, and our telephone number at that address is (866) 331-5324. We maintain a website at www.audioeye.com (this reference to our website is an inactive textual reference only and is not intended to incorporate our website into this report). We file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and make available, free of charge, on or through our website, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy and information statements and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. In addition, the SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov containing reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. Information on the SEC’s website does not constitute part of this report. Our website also contains copies of our corporate governance guidelines, code of business conduct and ethics, related party transaction policy and whistleblower policy, and copies of the charters for our audit committee, compensation committee and nominating and corporate governance committee.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

In addition to the other information included in this Annual Report, the following factors should be carefully considered in evaluating our business, financial position and future prospects. Any of the following risks, either alone or taken together, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial position or future prospects. If one or more of these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from what we have projected. Investing in our common stock is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk. Any potential investor should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below before purchasing any shares of our common stock. There may be additional risks that we do not presently know about or that we currently believe are immaterial which could also materially adversely affect our business, financial position or future prospects. As a result, the trading price of our stock could decline, and you might lose all or part of your investment. Our business, financial condition, and operating results, or the value of any investment you make in the stock of our company, or both, could be adversely affected by any of the factors listed and described below.

Risks Relating to Our Business and Industry

We have a history of generating significant losses and may not be able to achieve and sustain profitability.

To date, we have not been profitable, and we may never achieve profitability on a full-year or consistent basis. We incurred net losses of $5,019,874 for the year ended December 31, 2018. As of December 31, 2018, we have an accumulated deficit of $42,143,101. If we continue to experience losses, we may not be able to continue our operations, and investors may lose their entire investment.

Our future development requires substantial capital, and we may be unable to obtain needed capital or financing on satisfactory terms, or at all, which would prevent us from fully developing our business and generating revenues.

As of March 5, 2019, our cash available was $4,537,086. Our business plan will require additional capital expenditures, and our capital outlays could increase substantially over the next several years as we implement our business plan. As a result, we may need to raise additional capital, through future private or public equity offerings, strategic alliances or debt financing. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including: market conditions, sales and marketing costs, mergers and acquisition activity, if any, costs of litigation in enforcing our patents, and information technology development and acquisition costs. No assurance can be given that we can successfully raise additional equity or debt capital, or that such financing will be available to us on favorable terms, if at all.

We have been subject to litigation and may in the future be subject to additional litigation, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position or results of operations. 

We may become involved in various routine disputes and allegations incidental to our business operations. Because it is not possible to determine when and whether these disputes and allegations may arise or the ultimate disposition of such matters, the resolution of any such matters, should they arise, could have a material adverse effect on our financial position or results of operations.

Current economic and credit conditions could adversely affect our plan of operations.

Our ability to secure additional financing and satisfy our financial obligations under indebtedness outstanding from time to time will depend upon our future operating performance, which is subject to the prevailing general economic and credit market conditions, including interest rate levels and the availability of credit generally, and financial, business and other factors, many of which are beyond our control. The prolonged continuation or worsening of current credit market conditions would have a material adverse effect on our ability to secure financing on favorable terms, if at all.

Our revenue and collections may be materially adversely affected by an economic downturn.

Recent macroeconomic conditions have shown signs of volatility and potential weakness. We believe commercial purchasing habits and corporate information technology budgets have improved in recent years but remain relatively constrained and subject to such volatile and potentially weak economic conditions. Any deterioration in prevailing economic conditions would likely result in reduced demand for our services and products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business financial position or results of operations.

An increase in market interest rates could increase our interest costs on future debt and could adversely affect our stock price.

If interest rates increase, so could our interest costs for any new debt. This increased cost could make financing, including the financing of any acquisition, costlier. We may incur variable interest rate indebtedness in the future. Rising interest rates could limit our ability to refinance debt when it matures or cause us to pay higher interest rates upon refinancing and increased interest expense on refinanced indebtedness.

Our success is dependent on certain members of our management and technical team.

Our success has depended, and continues to depend, on the efforts and talents of our senior management team and key employees, including our engineers, product managers, sales and marketing personnel, and professional services personnel. Our future success will also depend upon our continued ability to identify, hire and retain additional skilled and highly qualified personnel, including a new chief financial officer, which will require significant time, expense and attention. We cannot assure you that our management will remain in place or as to the time it will take for us to identify, hire and retain a new chief financial officer.  We do not maintain “key person” life insurance policies. The loss of any of our management and technical team members could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition, as well as on the market price of our common stock.

We intend to pursue new strategic opportunities which may result in the use of a significant amount of our management resources or significant costs, and we may not be able to fully realize the potential benefit of such opportunities.

We intend to seek other strategic partners to help us pursue our strategic, marketing, sales, or technical objectives. Although we may devote significant time and resources in pursuit of such transactions, we may struggle to successfully identify such opportunities, or to successfully conclude transactions with potential strategic partners. Should we be unable to identify or conclude important strategic transactions, our business prospects and operations could be adversely affected as a result of the devotion of significant managerial effort required, and the challenges of achieving our objectives in the absence of strategic partners. In addition, we may incur significant costs in connection with seeking acquisitions or other strategic opportunities regardless of whether the transaction is completed, and in combining its operations if such a transaction is completed. In the event that we consummate an acquisition or strategic alternative in the future, we cannot assure you that we would fully realize the potential benefit of such a transaction.

Our business plan may not be realized. If our business plan proves to be unsuccessful, our business may fail, and you may lose your entire investment.

Our operations are subject to all of the risks inherent in the establishment of a new business enterprise with a limited operating history. The likelihood of our success must be considered in light of the problems, expenses, complications, and delays frequently encountered in connection with the development of a new business. Unanticipated events may occur that could affect the actual results achieved during the forecast periods. Consequently, the actual results of operations during the forecast periods will vary from the forecasts, and such variations may be material. In addition, the degree of uncertainty increases with each successive year presented in our business plan. We cannot assure you that we will succeed in the anticipated operation of our business plan. If our business plan proves to be unsuccessful, our business may fail, and you may lose your entire investment.

We have experienced and will continue to experience competition as more companies seek to provide products and services similar to our products and services and because larger and better-financed competitors may affect our ability to compete in the marketplace and achieve profitability, our business may fail.

Competition in our market is intense, and we expect competition for our products and services to become even more intense. We compete directly against other companies offering similar products and services that compete or will compete directly with our proposed products and services. We also compete against established vendors in our markets. These companies may incorporate other competitive technologies into their product offerings, whether developed internally or by third parties. There are also established consultants who offer services to help their customers obtain compliance with accessibilities standards. In many cases these consultants compete for the same funding from our prospective customers. For the foreseeable future, substantially all our competitors are likely to be larger, better-financed companies that may develop products superior to our current and proposed products, which could create significant competitive advantages for those companies. Our future success depends on our ability to compete effectively with our competitors. As a result, we may have difficulty competing with larger, established competitors. Generally, these competitors have:

These competitors may command a larger market share than we do, which may enable them to establish a stronger competitive position, in part, through greater marketing opportunities. Further, our competitors may be able to respond more quickly than we are to new or emerging technologies and changes in user preferences and to devote greater resources to developing new products and offering new services. These competitors may develop products or services that are comparable or superior to ours. If we fail to address competitive developments quickly and effectively, we may not be able to remain a viable business.

If we are not able to adequately protect our patented rights, our operations would be negatively impacted.

Our ability to compete largely depends on the superiority, uniqueness and value of our technology and intellectual property. To protect our intellectual property rights, we rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret laws, confidentiality agreements with our employees and third parties, and protective contractual provisions. We cannot assure you that infringement or invalidity claims (or claims for indemnification resulting from infringement claims) will not be asserted or prosecuted against us or that any such assertions or prosecutions will not materially adversely affect our business.

Regardless of whether any future claims are valid or can be successfully asserted, defending against such claims could cause us to incur significant costs, could jeopardize or substantially delay a successful outcome in any future litigation, and could divert resources away from our other activities. In addition, assertion of infringement claims could result in injunctions that prevent us from distributing our products. In addition to challenges against our existing patents, any of the following could also reduce the value of our intellectual property now, or in the future: 

Also, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights in certain foreign countries where we may do business in the future or from which competitors may operate. Obtaining patents will not necessarily protect our technology or prevent our international competitors from developing similar products or technologies. Our inability to adequately protect our patented rights would have a negative impact on our operations and revenues.

In addition, legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability, and scope of protection of intellectual property rights in Internet-related businesses are uncertain and still evolving. Because of the growth of the Internet and Internet-related businesses, patent applications are continuously and simultaneously being filed in connection with Internet-related technology. There are a significant number of U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications in our areas of interest, and we believe that there has been, and is likely to continue to be, significant litigation in the industry regarding patent and other intellectual property rights.

We may commence legal proceedings against third parties who we believe are infringing on our intellectual property rights, and if we are forced to litigate to defend our intellectual property rights, or to defend claims by third parties against us relating to intellectual property rights, legal fees and court injunctions could adversely affect our financial condition and potentially end our business.

At present, we do not have any active or pending litigation related to the violation of our patents. We expect an increase in the number of third parties who could violate our patents as the market develops new uses of similar products and consumers begin to increase their adoption of the technology and integrate it into their daily lives. We foresee the potential need to enter into active litigation to defend and enforce our patents. We anticipate that these legal proceedings could continue for several years and may require significant expenditures for legal fees and other expenses. In the event we are not successful through appeal and do not subsequently obtain monetary and injunctive relief, these litigation matters may significantly reduce our financial resources and have a material impact on our ability to continue our operations. The time and effort required of our management to effectively pursue or defend these litigation matters may adversely affect our ability to operate our business, since time spent on matters related to the lawsuits would take away from the time spent on managing and operating the business. We cannot assure you any such potential lawsuits will result in an outcome that is favorable to our stockholders or the Company.

The burdens of being a public company may adversely affect our ability to develop our business and pursue a litigation strategy.

Since we are a public company, our management must devote substantial time, attention, and financial resources to comply with U.S. securities laws. This may have a material adverse effect on our management’s ability to effectively and efficiently develop our business initiatives. In addition, our disclosure obligations under U.S. securities laws may require us to disclose information publicly that could have a material adverse effect on our potential litigation strategies.

The current regulatory environment for our products and services remains unclear.

We cannot assure you that our existing or planned product and service offerings will be in compliance with local, state, and/or federal U.S. laws or the laws of any foreign jurisdiction where we operate or may operate in the future. Further, we cannot assure you that we will not unintentionally violate such laws or that such laws will not be modified, or that new laws will not be enacted in the future, which would cause us to be in violation of such laws. More aggressive domestic or international regulation of the Internet may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, and future prospects.

As pressure of legal ramifications from non-compliance with Web Accessibility increases, customers may be less inclined to permit or may delay AudioEye from promoting client relationships and/or the specifics associated with those relationships, and if this restricts our public communications with potential investors and stockholders, it may negatively impact our ability to gain interest in our business from potential investors and stockholders.

Due to an undefined regulatory environment and a heightened sensitivity by plaintiffs seeking retribution for inaccessible and unusable digital interfaces, any organization may be sued or faced with legal demands claiming non-compliance. As these legal actions or demands may be initiated with or without merit, they present a new level of risk for website owners and publishers. In an effort to avoid any potential unwanted attention pertaining to the subject of compliance, AudioEye clients may enforce rigid stipulations pertaining to AudioEye’s promotion of their involvement or engagement with AudioEye, regardless of the level of success or positive impact any such engagement may have or have had on their businesses. Whether through the enforcement of non-disclosure agreements or through specific non-disclosure language associated with client contracts, if AudioEye is not empowered to promptly make public announcements about its client base and the adoption and success of AudioEye products and services, there may be a deleterious effect on the Company’s capacity to accelerate its business growth or attract investment from existing or future investors and stockholders.

Our business greatly depends on the growth of online services, Internet of Things (“IOT”), kiosks, streaming, and other next-generation Internet-based applications, which growth may not occur as expected, or at all, which would harm our business.

The Internet may ultimately prove not to be a viable commercial marketplace for such applications for several reasons, including:

Because of these and other factors, the growth of online services, IOT, kiosks, streaming, and other next-generation Internet-based applications may be impeded or not occur as expected. As a result, our business and operations could be adversely impacted.

If the market for our online services does not grow as anticipated, our business would be adversely affected.

While other next-generation Internet-based applications have grown rapidly in personal and professional use, we cannot assure you that the adoption of our products and services will grow at a comparable rate or grow at all.

We expect that we will experience long and unpredictable sales cycles, which may impact our operating results.

We expect that our sales cycles will be long and unpredictable due to a number of uncertainties such as:

These factors may create additional lead time before a sale is finalized and may lead to longer than expected and unpredictable sales cycles, which could delay or reduce our revenue and impact our operating results.

Our expansion into new products, services, technologies, and geographic regions subjects us to additional business, legal, financial, and competitive risks.

We may have limited or no experience in our newer market segments, and our customers may not adopt our new offerings. These offerings may present new and difficult technology challenges, and we may be subject to claims if customers of these offerings experience service disruptions or failures or other quality issues. In addition, profitability, if any, in our newer activities may be lower than in our older activities, and we may not be successful enough in these newer activities to recoup our investments in them. If any of this were to occur, it could damage our reputation, limit our growth, and negatively affect our operating results.

We face risks related to system interruption and lack of redundancy.

We experience occasional system interruptions and delays that make our websites and services unavailable or slow to respond and prevent us from efficiently providing services to third parties, which may reduce our net sales and the attractiveness of our products and services. If we are unable to continually add software and hardware, effectively upgrade our systems and network infrastructure, and take other steps to improve the efficiency of our systems, it could cause system interruptions or delays and adversely affect our operating results.

Our computer and communications systems and operations could be damaged or interrupted by fire, flood, power loss, telecommunications failure, earthquakes, acts of war or terrorism, acts of God, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, and similar events or disruptions. Any of these events could cause system interruption, delays, and loss of critical data, and could prevent us from providing services, which could make our product and service offerings less attractive and subject us to liability. Our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient. In addition, we may have inadequate insurance coverage to compensate for any related losses. Any of these events could damage our reputation and be expensive to remedy.

 Government regulation is evolving, and unfavorable changes could harm our business.

We are subject to general business regulations and laws, as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the Internet, e-commerce, electronic devices, and other services. Existing and future laws and regulations may impede our growth. These regulations and laws may cover taxation, privacy, data protection, pricing, content, copyrights, distribution, mobile communications, electronic device certification, electronic waste, energy consumption, environmental regulation, electronic contracts and other communications, competition, consumer protection, web services, the provision of online payment services, information reporting requirements, unencumbered Internet access to our services, the design and operation of websites, the characteristics and quality of products and services, and the commercial operation of unmanned aircraft systems. It is not clear how existing laws governing issues such as property ownership, libel, and personal privacy apply to the Internet, e-commerce, digital content, and web services. Unfavorable regulations and laws could diminish the demand for our products and services and increase our cost of doing business.

We could be subject to additional sales tax or other indirect tax liabilities.

U.S. Supreme Court decisions restrict the imposition of obligations to collect state and local sales taxes with respect to remote sales. However, an increasing number of states have considered or adopted laws or administrative practices that attempt to impose obligations on out-of-state businesses to collect taxes on their behalf. A successful assertion by one or more states or foreign countries requiring us to collect taxes where we do not currently do so could result in substantial tax liabilities, including for past sales, as well as penalties and interest.

We may be subject to risks related to government contracts and related procurement regulations.

Our contracts with U.S., as well as state, local, and foreign, government entities are subject to various procurement regulations and other requirements relating to their formation, administration, and performance. We may be subject to audits and investigations relating to our government contracts, and any violations could result in various civil and criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, including termination of contracts, refunding or suspending of payments, forfeiture of profits, payment of fines, and suspension or debarment from future government business. In addition, such contracts may provide for termination by the government at any time, without cause.

If we do not successfully develop our planned products and services in a cost-effective manner to meet customer demand in the rapidly evolving market for next-generation Internet-based applications and services, our business may fail.

The market for next-generation Internet-based applications and services is characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards, changes in customer needs, and frequent new service and product introductions. Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to use new technologies effectively, to continue to develop our technical expertise and proprietary technology, to enhance our existing products and services, and to develop new products and services that meet changing customer needs on a timely and cost-effective basis. We may not be able to adapt quickly enough to changing technology, customer requirements, and industry standards. If we fail to use new technologies effectively, to develop our technical expertise and new products and services, or to enhance existing products and services on a timely basis, either internally or through arrangements with third parties, our product and service offerings may fail to meet customer needs, which would adversely affect our revenues and prospects for growth.

In addition, if we are unable to, for technological, legal, financial, or other reasons, adapt in a timely manner to changing market conditions or customer requirements, we could lose customers, strategic alliances, and market share. Sudden changes in user and customer requirements and preferences, the frequent introduction of new products and services embodying new technologies, and the emergence of new industry standards and practices could render our existing products, services and systems obsolete. The emerging nature of products and services in the technology and communications industry and their rapid evolution will require that we continually improve the performance, features, and reliability of our products and services. Our survival and success will depend, in part, on our ability to:

The development of our planned products and services and other patented technology involves significant technological and business risks and requires substantial expenditures and lead time. We may be unable to use new technologies effectively. Updating our technology internally and licensing new technology from third parties may also require us to incur significant additional expenditures.

If our products and services do not gain market acceptance, we may not be able to fund future operations.

A number of factors may affect the market acceptance of our products or services or any other products or services we develop or acquire, including, among others:

If our products and services do not gain market acceptance, we may not be able to fund future operations, including the development of new products and services and/or our sales and marketing efforts for our current products and services, which inability would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results.

We continually develop new products and product enhancements and actively capitalize software development costs, while making educated assumptions to anticipate the attributed revenue to be derived from each development or enhancement. If our assumptions are incorrect or if we are unable to accurately attribute revenue to each respective product or product enhancement, we may have to account for impairment, thus causing us to reverse the capitalized expenditures.

Our product developers are consistently programming new products and enhancements to existing products. Under the guidance of U.S Accounting Standard, ASC 350-40, we make determinations to estimate the useful life of each of these products and enhancements. Based on these determinations, we amortize software expenses over a pre-determined period of time. Based on our financial forecasts and regular impairment testing, we believe that cash flows will be realized from our product development and product enhancements and will be sufficient to recover the value of the Company’s expenditures. Should our estimates turn out to be inaccurate or should the business fail to attract new revenue in relation to each respective product or product enhancement, we may have to reverse or write off the related capitalized expenses.

Our products and services are highly technical and may contain undetected errors, which could cause harm to our reputation and adversely affect our business.

Our products and services are highly technical and complex and, when deployed, may contain errors or defects. Despite testing, some errors in our products and services may only be discovered after they have been installed and used by customers. Any errors or defects discovered in our products and services after commercial release could result in failure to achieve market acceptance, loss of revenue or delay in revenue recognition, loss of customers, and increased service and warranty cost, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, we could face claims for product liability, tort, or breach of warranty. The performance of our products and services could have unforeseen or unknown adverse effects on the networks over which they are delivered as well as on third-party applications and services that utilize our products and services, which could result in legal claims against us, harming our business. Furthermore, we expect to provide implementation, consulting, and other technical services in connection with the implementation and ongoing maintenance of our products and services, which typically involves working with sophisticated software, computing systems, and communications systems. We expect that our contracts with customers will contain provisions relating to warranty disclaimers and liability limitations, which may not be upheld. Defending a lawsuit, regardless of its merit, is costly and may divert our management’s attention and adversely affect the market’s perception of us and our products and services. In addition, if our business liability insurance coverage proves inadequate or future coverage is unavailable on acceptable terms or at all, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely impacted.

Malfunctions of third-party communications infrastructure, hardware and software expose us to a variety of risks we cannot control, and those risks could result in harm to our business.

Our business depends upon the capacity, reliability and security of the infrastructure owned by third parties over which our product offerings are deployed. We have no control over the operation, quality or maintenance of a significant portion of that infrastructure or over whether those third parties will upgrade or improve their equipment. We do depend on these companies to maintain the operational integrity of our integrated connections. If one or more of these companies is unable or unwilling to supply or expand its levels of service in the future, our operations could be adversely impacted. System interruptions or increases in response time could result in a loss of potential or existing users and, if sustained or repeated, could reduce the appeal of the networks to users. In addition, users depend on real-time communications; outages caused by increased traffic could result in delays and system failures. These types of occurrences could cause users to perceive that our products and services do not function properly and could therefore adversely affect our ability to attract and retain strategic partners and customers.

Security breaches, computer viruses, and computer hacking attacks could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, or reputation.

Security breaches, computer malware and computer hacking attacks have become more prevalent in our industry. Any security breach caused by hacking, which involves efforts to gain unauthorized access to information or systems, or to cause intentional malfunctions or loss or corruption of data, software, hardware or other computer equipment, or the inadvertent transmission of computer viruses could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or reputation.

Our corporate systems, third-party systems and security measures may be breached due to the actions of outside parties, employee error, malfeasance, a combination of these, or otherwise, and, as a result, an unauthorized party may obtain access to our data or any third-party data we may possess. Any such security breach could require us to comply with various breach notification laws and may expose us to litigation, remediation and investigation costs, increased costs for security measures, loss of revenue, damage to our reputation, and potential liability.

System failure or interruption or our failure to meet increasing demands on our systems could harm our business.

The success of our product and service offerings depends on the uninterrupted operation of various systems, secure data centers, and other computer and communication networks that we use or establish. To the extent the number of users of networks utilizing our future products and services suddenly increases, the technology platform and hosting services which will be required to accommodate a higher volume of traffic may result in slower response times, service interruptions or delays or system failures. The deployment of our products, services, systems and operations will also be vulnerable to damage or interruption from:

System interruptions or failures and increases or delays in response time could result in a loss of potential or existing users and, if sustained or repeated, could reduce the appeal of our products and services to users. These types of occurrences could cause users to perceive that our products and services do not function properly and could therefore adversely affect our ability to attract and retain strategic partners and customers.

Our ability to sell our solutions will be dependent on the quality of our technical support and our failure to deliver high-quality technical support services could have a material adverse effect on our sales and results of operations.

If we do not effectively assist our customers in deploying our products and services, succeed in helping our customers quickly resolve post-deployment issues and provide effective ongoing support, or if potential customers perceive that we may not be able to successfully deliver the foregoing, our ability to sell our products and services would be adversely affected, and our reputation with customers and potential customers could be harmed. As a result, our failure to deliver and maintain high-quality technical support services to our customers could result in customers choosing to use our competitors’ products or services in the future.

Growth of internal operations and business may strain our financial resources.

We may need to significantly expand the scope of our operating and financial systems in order to build our business. Our growth rate may place a significant strain on our financial resources for several reasons, including, but not limited to, the following:

The addition of products and services and the attention they demand may also strain our management resources.

We do not expect to pay any dividends for the foreseeable future, which will affect the extent to which our investors realize any future gains on their investment.

We do not anticipate that we will pay any dividends to holders of our convertible preferred and common stock in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, investors must rely on the ability to convert preferred stock to common stock and on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment. 

We will need to recruit and retain additional qualified personnel to successfully grow our business.

Our future success will depend in part on our ability to attract and retain qualified operations, marketing and sales personnel as well as technical personnel. Inability to attract and retain such personnel could adversely affect our business. Competition for technical, sales, marketing and executive personnel is intense, particularly in the technology and Internet sectors. We cannot assure you that we will be able to attract or retain such personnel.

If we fail to establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and effective disclosure controls, we may not be able to report financial results accurately or on a timely basis, or to detect fraud, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and stock price. 

In connection with this annual report and our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, our management carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures. Based on that evaluation, our Principal Executive and Financial Officer has concluded that, primarily due to material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as described in this annual report our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2017 or 2018.

In addition, our management has identified, and we have disclosed in this annual report, control deficiencies in our financial reporting process that, as of December 31, 2018, constituted material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. These material weaknesses, which relate to the segregation of duties and the lack of formal policies that provide for multiple levels of supervision and reviews, also existed at December 31, 2017. Management has evaluated, and continues to evaluate, avenues for mitigating our internal controls weaknesses, but mitigating controls to completely mitigate internal control weaknesses have been deemed to be impractical and prohibitively costly, due to the size of our organization at the current time and limited capital resources. Management expects to continue to use reasonable care in following and seeking improvements to effective internal control processes that have been and continue to be in use at the Company. Our management also determined that our internal control over financial reporting was ineffective as of December 31 in each of 2012 through 2016.

Failure to establish and maintain the required internal control over financial reporting or related procedures, and to establish and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures, or any failure of those controls or procedures once established, could adversely impact our public disclosures regarding our business, financial condition or results of operations. Upon review of the required internal control over financial reporting, our management and/or our auditors have in the past and may in the future identify material weaknesses and/or significant deficiencies that need to be addressed. Any actual or perceived weaknesses or conditions that need to be addressed in our internal control over financial reporting and disclosure of management's assessment of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting or disclosure of our public accounting firm's attestation to or report on management's assessment of our internal control over financial reporting could adversely impact the price of and our ability to list our common stock and may lead to stockholder claims and regulatory action against us. Failure to remediate our current material weaknesses or to maintain effective internal controls in the future could also result in a material misstatement of our annual or quarterly financial statements that would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis and that could cause us to restate our financial statements for a prior period, cause investors to lose confidence in our financial statements and/or limit our ability to raise capital.

Additionally, any such failure may also negatively impact our operating results and financial condition, impair our ability to timely file our periodic and other reports with the SEC, consume a significant amount of management's time, and cause us to incur substantial additional costs periods relating to the implementation of remedial measures.

Risks Related to the Market for Our Common Stock

Although our shares of common stock are now listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market, we currently have a limited trading volume, which results in higher price volatility for, and reduced liquidity of, our common stock.

Although our shares of common stock are now listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “AEYE,” trading volume in our common stock has been limited and an active trading market for our shares of common stock may never develop or be maintained. The absence of an active trading market increases price volatility and reduces the liquidity of our common stock. As long as this condition continues, the sale of a significant number of shares of common stock at any particular time could be difficult to achieve at the market prices prevailing immediately before such shares are offered.

If we cannot continue to satisfy the continuing listing criteria of the NASDAQ Capital Market, the exchange may subsequently delist our common stock.

The NASDAQ Capital Market requires us to meet certain financial, public float, bid price and liquidity standards on an ongoing basis in order to continue the listing of our common stock. Generally, we must maintain a minimum amount of stockholders’ equity and a minimum number of holders of our securities, as well as meet certain disclosure and corporate governance requirements. If we fail to meet any of the continuing listing requirements, our common stock may be subject to delisting. If our common stock is delisted and we are not able to list our common stock on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities would be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, our stockholders could face significant material adverse consequences, including limited availability of market quotations for our common stock and reduced liquidity for the trading of our securities. In addition, we could experience a decreased ability to issue additional securities and obtain additional financing in the future.

The market price for our common stock may fluctuate significantly, which could result in substantial losses by our investors.

The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors, some of which are beyond our control, such as:

These factors and any corresponding price fluctuations may materially and adversely affect the market price of our common stock and result in substantial losses by our investors.

Further, the stock market in general, and the market for technology companies in particular, has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations in the past. Continued market fluctuations could result in extreme volatility in the price of our common stock, which could cause a decline in the value of our common stock.

Price volatility of our common stock might be worse if the trading volume of our common stock is low. In the past, following periods of market volatility, stockholders have often instituted securities class action litigation. We have previously been the target of securities litigation and may in the future be subject to additional securities litigation, which could result in substantial costs to us and divert resources and attention of management from our business, even if we are successful in any such litigation. Future sales of our common stock could also reduce the market price of such stock.

Moreover, the liquidity of our common stock is limited, not only in terms of the number of shares that can be bought and sold at a given price, but by delays in the timing of transactions and reduction in security analysts’ and the media’s coverage of us, if any. These factors may result in lower prices for our common stock than might otherwise be obtained and could also result in a larger spread between the bid and ask prices for our common stock. In addition, without a large float, our common stock is less liquid than the stock of companies with broader public ownership and, as a result, the trading price of our common stock may be more volatile. In the absence of an active public trading market, an investor may be unable to liquidate its investment in our common stock. Trading of a relatively small volume of our common stock may have a greater impact on the trading price of our stock than would be the case if our public float were larger. We cannot predict the prices at which our common stock will trade in the future.

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

If our stockholders sell substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, including pursuant to our currently effective Registration Statement on Form S-1, it could create a circumstance commonly referred to as an “overhang,” in anticipation of which the market price of our common stock could fall. The existence of an overhang, whether or not sales have occurred or are occurring, also could make more difficult our ability to raise additional financing through the sale of equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem reasonable or appropriate.

When we issue additional shares of common stock in the future, including additional shares of common stock upon conversion of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock, it will result in the dilution of our existing stockholders.

Our Certificate of Incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 50,000,000 shares of common stock with a $0.00001 par value per share and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a $0.00001 par value per share, of which 7,579,995 shares of common stock were issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2018 and 105,000 shares of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock were issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2018. Upon any conversion of the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock, based upon the applicable conversion rate as of December 31, 2018, approximately 283,407 shares of common stock, resulting in dilution to our existing holders of common stock. From time to time we may increase the number of shares available for issuance in connection with our equity compensation plans. Our board of directors may fix and determine the designations, rights, preferences or other variations of each class or series within each class of preferred stock and may choose to issue some or all of such shares to provide additional financing or acquire more businesses in the future.

Moreover, as of December 31, 2018, we had outstanding warrants and options to purchase an aggregate of 2,779,704 shares of our common stock, and outstanding restricted stock units covering an aggregate of 222,514 shares of common stock. The exercise of such options and warrants and the settlement of such restricted stock units would further increase the number of our outstanding shares of common stock and dilute the interests of our holders of common stock. The issuance of any shares for acquisition, licensing or financing efforts, upon conversion of any preferred stock, upon exercise of warrants and options, or upon settlement of restricted stock units may result in a reduction of the market price of our common stock. If we issue any such additional shares, such issuance will cause a reduction in the proportionate ownership and voting power of all then current stockholders.

The interests of our controlling stockholders may not coincide with yours and such controlling stockholders may make decisions with which you may disagree.

As of March 5, 2019, three of our stockholders, one of whom is our Executive Chairman, beneficially owned in the aggregate over 50% of our common stock. As a result, these stockholders may be able to influence the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. In addition, this concentration of ownership may delay or prevent a change in control of our company and make some future transactions more difficult or impossible without the support of our controlling stockholders. The interests of our controlling stockholders may not coincide with our interests or the interests of other stockholders.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We currently have new research coverage by securities and industry analysts. If one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our stock or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which could cause our stock price and trading volume to decline.

We are subject to financial reporting and other requirements that place significant demands on our resources.

We are subject to reporting and other obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 requires us to conduct an annual management assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. These reporting and other obligations place significant demands on our management, administrative, operational, internal audit and accounting resources. Any failure to maintain effective internal controls could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and stock price. Moreover, effective internal control is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, we may not be able to manage our business as effectively as we would if an effective control environment existed, and our business and reputation with investors may be harmed. We may also face claims by our investors, which could harm our business and financial condition.

Risks Relating to Our Charter Documents and Capital Structure

We are close to being controlled by a small number of “insider” stockholders, which could determine corporate and stockholder action on significant matters.

As of March 5, 2019, our directors, executive officers and certain other beneficial owners of our common stock, beneficially owned an aggregate of 5,686,225 shares of common stock which is approximately 74.59% of our outstanding 7,623,227 shares of common stock. Through their collective ownership of our outstanding common stock, such holders, if they were to act together, would be close to controlling the voting of our shares at all meetings of stockholders and, because the common stock does not have cumulative voting rights, would determine the outcome of the election of all of our directors and determining corporate and stockholder action on other matters. The beneficial holdings of our directors and executive officers as a group represent 26.89% of our shares of common stock on a fully diluted basis.

Provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation and bylaws could discourage potential acquisition proposals and could deter or prevent a change in control.

Some provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and bylaws, as well as statutes, may have the effect of delaying, deterring or preventing a change in control. These provisions, including those providing for the possible issuance of shares of our preferred stock, which may be divided into series and with the preferences, limitations and relative rights to be determined by our board of directors, and the right of the board of directors to amend the bylaws, may make it more difficult for other persons, without the approval of our board of directors, to make a tender offer or otherwise acquire a substantial number of shares of our common stock or to launch other takeover attempts that a stockholder might consider to be in his or her best interest. These provisions could limit the price that some investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.

Delaware law may delay or prevent takeover attempts by third parties and therefore inhibit our stockholders from realizing a premium on their stock.

We are subject to the anti-takeover provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. These provisions prevent any stockholder who owns 15% or more of our outstanding shares of common stock from engaging in certain business combinations with us for a period of three years following the time that the stockholder acquired such stock ownership unless certain approvals were or are obtained from our board of directors or from the holders of 66 2/3% of our outstanding shares of common stock (excluding the shares of our common stock owned by the 15% or more stockholder). Our board of directors can use these and other provisions to discourage, delay or prevent a change in the control of our company or a change in our management. Any delay or prevention of a change of control transaction or a change in our board of directors or management could deter potential acquirers or prevent the completion of a transaction in which our stockholders could receive a substantial premium over the then current market price of our shares. These provisions could also limit the price that investors might be willing to pay for shares of our common stock.

Failure to manage growth effectively could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The success of our future operating activities will depend upon our ability to expand our support system to meet the demands of our growing business. Any failure by our management to effectively anticipate, implement, and manage changes required to sustain our growth would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully operate acquired businesses (if any), become profitable in the future, or effectively manage any other change.

The elimination of the monetary liability of our directors under Delaware law and the existence of indemnification rights held by our directors, officers and employees may result in substantial expenditures by us and may discourage lawsuits against our directors, officers and employees. 

Our Certificate of Incorporation contains specific provisions that eliminate the liability of our directors for monetary damages to our company and stockholders and requires indemnification of our directors and officers to the extent provided by Delaware law. Our Bylaws also contain provisions that require the indemnification of our directors, officers and employees. We may also have contractual indemnification obligations under our employment agreements with our officers. The foregoing limitation of liability and indemnification obligations could result in our company incurring substantial expenditures to cover the cost of settlement or damage awards against directors and officers, which we may be unable to recoup. These provisions and resultant costs may also discourage our company from bringing a lawsuit against directors and officers for breaches of their fiduciary duties and may similarly discourage the filing of derivative litigation by our stockholders against our directors and officers even though such actions, if successful, might otherwise benefit our company and our stockholders.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Not applicable.

Item 2. Properties

The Company’s principal executive offices are located at 5210 E. Williams Circle, Suite 750, Tucson, Arizona 85711, consisting of approximately 5,151 square feet as of March 5, 2019 in a facility that is leased under an agreement that expires on October 31, 2022.

The Company also leases offices in Scottsdale, Arizona; Atlanta, Georgia; and New York, New York.

We believe our current premises are suitable and adequate for our current and expected operations. We believe that suitable additional or substitute space will be available as needed to accommodate changes in our operations.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

For a description of our material legal proceedings, see the section titled “Litigation” included in Note 11 – “Commitments and Contingencies” in the notes to the consolidated financial statements, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Common Stock Information

Our common stock has been listed on The NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “AEYE” since September 4, 2018. Prior to September 4, 2018, our common stock was quoted on the OTCQB (the Venture Market) and the Over the Counter “OTC” Bulletin Board (each being part of the OTC Markets Group) since April 15, 2013 under the same symbol.

In August 2018, the Company sold in a private placement 1,000,000 shares of its common stock at $6.25 per share for net proceeds of $5,609,215, after costs and expenses of $640,785 (the “Private Placement”). The Shares were offered and sold in the Private Placement pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. At the closing of the Private Placement, the Company entered into a registration rights agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) with the investors pursuant to which the Company agreed to register the shares of common stock for resale. On September 4, 2018, the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-1 covering the resale or other disposition of the securities subject to the Registration Rights Agreement. The Company is obligated to use its reasonable best efforts to maintain effectiveness of the registration statement or be subject to certain penalties.

On March 5, 2019, there were 237 holders of record of our common stock, and a greater number of beneficial holders of our common stock for whom shares were held in a “nominee” or “street” name. As of that same date, there were nine holders of record of our preferred stock.

The transfer agent of our common stock is Corporate Stock Transfer, 3200 Cherry Creek Drive, Suite 430, Denver, Colorado 80209, telephone number: (303) 282-4800.

Dividend Policy

In April 2015, the Company issued 175,000 shares Series A Convertible Preferred Stock with cumulative 5% dividend rights payable when declared by the board of directors of the Company.

Dividends to preferred stockholders take precedence over any dividends to common stockholders. Holders of our common stock are entitled to receive ratably such dividends, if any, as may be declared by our board of directors out of funds legally available. We have not declared or paid any dividends on our preferred or common stock since our inception, and we presently anticipate that all earnings, if any, will be retained for development of our business. There are no restrictions in our Certificate of Incorporation or bylaws that prevent us from declaring dividends. Any future declaration of dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon, among other things, our future earnings, operating and financial condition, and capital requirements.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data 

Not applicable.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated audited financial statements and the related notes for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 that appear elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include but are not limited to those discussed below and elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K, particularly in “Special Note Regarding Forward- Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors.” The forward-looking statements included in this annual report on Form 10-K are made only as of the date hereof.

Background

AudioEye, Inc. was formed as a Delaware corporation on May 20, 2005. On August 1, 2018, the Company amended its Certificate of Incorporation to implement a reverse stock split in the ratio of 1 share for every 25 shares of common stock and to reduce the number of authorized shares of common stock from 250,000,000 to 50,000,000. As a result, 186,994,384 shares of the Company’s common stock were exchanged for 7,479,775 shares of the Company's common stock. The financial statements have been retroactively restated to reflect the reverse stock split.

Overview

AudioEye is a marketplace leader providing web accessibility solutions for our clients’ customers through our Ally Platform products. Our technology advances accessibility with patented technology solutions that reduce barriers, expand access for individuals with disabilities, and enhance the user experience for many users. When implemented, we believe that our solutions offer businesses, schools, and governments the opportunity to reach more customers, improve brand image, and build additional brand loyalty. In addition, our solutions help organizations comply with internationally accepted Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) as well as US, Canadian, Australian, and United Kingdom accessibility laws.

We generate revenues through the sale of subscriptions of our SaaS technology platform, called the AudioEye Ally Platform, to website owners, publishers, developers, and operators and through the delivery of managed services combined with the implementation of the AudioEye solution. Our solutions have been adopted by some of the largest and most influential companies in the world. Our customers span disparate industries and target market verticals, which encompass (but are not limited to) the following categories: human resources, finance, transportation, automotive, restaurant services, media, and education. Government agencies and state and local municipalities have also integrated our software in their digital platforms.

AudioEye customers fall into one of two distinct sales channels: direct and indirect. In the direct channel, AudioEye sales personnel engage directly with the customer. In the indirect channel, AudioEye engages with customers, also referred to as strategic partners, who serve as an authorized reseller of the AudioEye solution to their clients. Indirect channel sales have been a key factor in the acceleration of the AudioEye sales and marketing strategy. By working with strategically identified resellers, these partners provide a unique opportunity allowing AudioEye to onboard more customers in a shorter period of time. By working with providers of proprietary content management systems, AudioEye leverages economies of scale to deliver the AudioEye solution in a cost-effective and highly efficient way. In middle and lower markets, this strategy has helped make accessibility accessible to industries that would otherwise neglect the important issue of digital inclusion, altogether. We believe that there is significant opportunity for us to increase revenues by delivering our solutions through this indirect channel and continue to invest capital and resources in expanding our strategic partner business.

We have seen momentous growth in both our direct and indirect or 'Partner' business channels. With the significant number of additional implementations that each Partner offers, we expect revenues from our Partner channel clients would represent as much as 20% to 30% of Monthly Recurring Revenue “MRR” for 2018, and 50% to 60% of MRR by year-end 2019. Monthly Recurring Revenue is the annualized spend of the customer divided by 12. Since most of these Partners' underlying clients are billed monthly, we believe our bookings, revenue, and cash flow will converge in this segment. Renewal rates for the Direct channel continue in the range of mid to high 90%'s and renewal contract terms are increasing in length which further illustrates the confidence our customers have in the AudioEye accessibility solution.

Our accelerating topline growth is a testament to the ongoing demand for solutions aimed at addressing the broad issues of digital accessibility, and more specifically, to our internal efforts at continually refining our go-to-market strategy as well as expanding our sales and implementation teams to meet the building demand we are experiencing. AudioEye presents the only 'all-in-one solution' created to address the public call for compliance with WCAG 2.1 standards.

During the fourth quarter as well as throughout 2018, we continued to see significant growth within our direct and indirect sales channels, which was fueled by a number of factors. The increasing number of legal cases related to issues of accessibility has driven adoption of our solutions from a compliance perspective. Further, more companies are recognizing the business value of making their sites accessible to millions more consumers. Recognition of the business ROI is being sparked by demand from end-users who are letting companies and organizations know of the significant importance of accessibility to their websites.

Beyond this secular momentum, we have remained focused on several internal initiatives that are designed to make us more effective at an operational level. More specifically, we have made refinements to our lead generation processes, which has led to expansion of our overall sales pipeline, and we have continued to make enhancements to the technology that underlies our solution.

Today we have more visibility and confidence in the continued growth of our business than at any prior point as a result of the record cash contract bookings we recorded in 2018. Furthermore, we expect the demand we have generated through both our direct and indirect sales channels will support our robust growth projections for 2019. Overall, AudioEye is in its strongest position to date and believes that it has a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on the market before it. At the same time, we are dedicated to serving a vital role in leading the charge toward a more accessible online future for all.

In August 2018, the Company completed a private placement of $6.25 million (before expenses) growth equity financing with institutional investors to accelerate expansion efforts for the company's indirect partnership business. Further, we listed the company's common stock on the NASDAQ Capital Market. 

Results of Operations

Our consolidated audited financial statements are stated in United States Dollars and are prepared to conform to accounting principles, generally accepted in the United States of America, and consistently applied in the preparation of the financial statements.

In 2018, our net loss decreased to $5,073,614 from $5,683,045 in 2017, primarily as a result of the following:

Revenue

For the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, revenue in the amount of $5,660,427 and $2,739,439, respectively, consisted primarily of various levels of revenue from core product sales, software development, website design and maintenance. Revenues increased due to the execution of the Company’s business plan which includes the hiring of additional sales team members, securing new negotiated channel partnerships thus increasing the volume of reselling of the AudioEye products and services, and a continued marketing focus on highly transactional industry verticals.

The following table presents our revenues disaggregated by sales channel:

Cost of Revenue

For the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, cost of revenue in the amount of $2,626,815 and $1,384,145, respectively, consisted primarily of employee-related costs, including payroll, benefits and stock-based compensation expense for our technology operations and customer experience teams, fees paid to our managed hosting providers and other third-party service providers, amortization of capitalized software development costs and acquired technology, and allocated overhead costs. The increase in cost of revenue was due to significant increase in direct labor headcount and related payroll and use of sub-contracting to support the increase in revenues.

Gross Profit

The increase in revenue and increase in sub-contracting and direct labor costs resulted in a gross profit of $3,033,612 and $1,355,294 for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Gross profit increased as a result of increasing sales, partially offset by an increase in sub-contracting and direct labor costs. The increase in gross profit was primarily due to increased sales volume, an increasing revenue renewal rate and recognition of deferred revenue as a result of longer contracts. Advancements in the Company’s technology also led to certain efficiencies in the delivery of service.

Selling and Marketing Expenses 

Selling and marketing expenses were $2,462,865 and $1,421,127 for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The increase in expenses resulted primarily from staff and salary increases as we expand and grow our business lines.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses were $194,429 and $181,303 for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Research and development expenses increased predominantly as a result of an increase in technology staff.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses were $4,950,138 and $4,271,510 for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. General and administrative expenses increased primarily as a result of added headcount, higher contract labor costs, and higher benefits costs.

Loss on change in Fair Value of Derivative Liabilities

In each of October 2015, 2016 and 2017, we issued warrants with an embedded reset provision requiring us to calculate the fair value of these derivatives each reporting period and to mark them to market as a non-cash adjustment to our current period operations. This resulted in a loss of $155,027 on change in fair value of derivative liabilities for the year ended December 31, 2017. The primary driver of the change in our derivative liability is our stock price. Generally, as our stock price increases, the liability increases resulting in a larger non-cash loss for the period to period change.

On January 1, 2018, we adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2017-11 by electing the retrospective method to the outstanding financial instruments with a down round feature by means of a cumulative-effect adjustment to the statement of financial position as of the beginning of the fiscal year. Accordingly, we are no longer required to treat as derivatives our financial instruments with embedded anti-dilutive (reset) provisions.

Loss on settlement of Debt

In October 2018, we issued common stock upon the conversion of convertible notes payable in the amount of $224,975 plus accrued interest. In connection with this issuance, we incurred a $267,812 loss on settlement.

In November 2017, we issued common stock upon the conversion of a convertible note payable in the amount of $50,000 plus accrued interest. In connection with this issuance, we incurred a $15,724 loss on settlement.

Interest Expense, net

Interest expense, net during the year ended December 31, 2018 was $178,002 compared to $917,992 for the year ended December 31, 2017. For 2018 and 2017, interest expense, net consists primarily of amortization of debt discounts and interest incurred relating to our issued convertible notes payable.

Contracts in Process/Revenue Recognition

Under current accounting procedures, revenue is recognized when delivery of the promised goods or services is transferred to customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration that the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. Certain Software as a Service (“SaaS”) invoices are prepared on an annual basis. Any funds received for services not provided yet are held in deferred revenue and are recorded as revenue when earned. Subscription revenue is recognized on a ratable basis over the contractual subscription term of the arrangement beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Payments received in advance of services being rendered are recorded as deferred revenue. The Company only records accounts receivable for the amount of revenue recognized as service is rendered, even if the client has been billed for the entire contract value. The table below summarizes the amount of contract value in excess of the revenue recognized of $7,601,875, our deferred revenue of $3,028,787 and amount recognized as revenue in the amount of $5,660,427 in 2018. Contract and deferred revenues are expected to be recognized in future periods. The Company also receives contracts for service hours but where total contract value is uncertain. These “fee for service contracts” are recorded in the table below only if the services have been delivered and the associated revenue has been recognized.

A summary of our contracts in process is as follows:

Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2018 were a record $1.78 million, representing an increase of 103% from $876,000 in the same year-ago period. The revenues for the fourth quarter of 2018 represent the 12^th consecutive quarter of topline growth for the Company. In addition, both deferred revenues and cash contracts in excess of revenues and deferred revenues continue to grow.

Cash contract bookings for the fourth quarter of 2018 were the highest quarter of such cash contract bookings in Company history, totaling approximately $3.50 million. This represents an increase of 124% from $1.56 million in the same year-ago period.

For the full year 2018, the Company secured a record $11.55 million in cash contract bookings, representing an increase of 83% compared to $6.31 million in 2017. During the fourth quarter as well as throughout 2018, we continued to see significant growth within our direct and indirect sales channels. The increasing number of legal cases related to issues of accessibility has driven adoption of our solutions from a compliance perspective. Further, more companies are recognizing the business value of making their sites accessible to millions more consumers. Recognition of the business ROI is being sparked by demand from end-users who are letting companies and organizations know of the significant importance of accessibility to their websites.

We have remained focused on a number of internal initiatives that are designed to make us more effective at an operational level. We have made refinements to our lead generation processes, which has led to expansion of our overall sales pipeline, and we have continued to make enhancements to the technology that underlies our solution. As we look ahead into 2019, we remain committed to making our AudioEye Ally platform an even more compelling product for our customers and an even more essential tool that enables equal opportunity for all to engage and interact in meaningful ways online.

About Key Operating Metrics

To supplement our financial information presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), we consider certain operating measures that are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, including monthly recurring revenue and cash contract bookings. AudioEye reviews a number of operating metrics such as these to evaluate its business, measure performance, identify trends, formulate business plans, and make strategic decisions. We believe these metrics and measures are useful to facilitate period-to-period comparisons of our business and to facilitate comparisons of our performance to that of other similar companies.

AudioEye's Cash Contract Bookings is the contracted amount of money the customer commits to spend with the Company over an agreed amount of time, generally ranging from 12 to 60 months.

AudioEye's Monthly Recurring Revenue is the annualized spend of a customer divided by 12.

Partner or Strategic Partner is a company which provides a web-hosting platform for private and public entities and resells the AudioEye Ally managed service as a new accessibility service offering to its customers.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Working Capital

As of December 31, 2018, the Company had cash of $5,741,549 and working capital of $3,370,983. The Company used actual net cash in operations of $1,643,854 during the year ended December 31, 2018. While the Company has been successful in raising capital in the past, there is no assurance that it will be successful at raising additional capital in the future. Additionally, if the Company’s plans are not achieved and/or if significant unanticipated events occur, the Company may have to further modify its business plan.

The working capital (deficit) as of December 31, 2018 and 2017 was $3,370,983 and $(2,198,926), respectively. The change in working capital was primarily due to the increase in cash balances and elimination of the non-cash derivative liability recorded in current liabilities in 2017.

Cash Flows

We had cash in the amount of $5,741,549 and $1,960,430 as of December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively.

In August 2018, the Company sold 1,000,000 shares of its common stock in a private placement for a purchase price of $6.25 per share resulting in net proceeds of $5,609,215, after costs and expenses of $640,785. In addition, the Company received proceeds of $100,000 from the issuance of convertible notes in September 2018 and an additional $124,975 from the issuance of convertible notes in the subsequent month of October. It is anticipated that the Company has cash sufficient to fund operations for the next twelve months.

We may raise additional capital through the sale of equity or debt securities or borrowings from financial institutions or third parties or a combination of the foregoing. Capital raised will be used to implement our business plan, grow current operations, make acquisitions and/or start new vertical businesses among some of the possible uses.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources that are material to stockholders.

Critical Accounting Policies

The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Preparing financial statements requires our management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses. These estimates and assumptions are affected by our management’s application of accounting policies. We believe that understanding the basis and nature of the estimates and assumptions involved with the following aspects of our financial statements is critical to an understanding of our financial statements.

Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue when delivery of the promised goods or services is transferred to its customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration that the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. We determine revenue recognition through the following five steps:

Certain SaaS invoices are prepared on an annual basis. Subscription revenue is recognized on a ratable basis over the contractual subscription term of the arrangement beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Payments received in advance of services being rendered are recorded as deferred revenue. Any funds received for services not provided yet are held in deferred revenue and are recorded as revenue when earned. We generate substantially all our revenue from subscription services, which are comprised of subscription fees from customer accounts on the Ally Platform.

Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in Topic 605, Revenue Recognition, and most industry-specific revenue recognition guidance throughout the Industry Topics of the Accounting Standards Codification. The updated guidance states that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The guidance also provides for additional disclosures with respect to revenues and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. The Company adopted the standard using the modified retrospective approach effective January 1, 2018.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Significant estimates include the fair value of the Company’s stock, stock-based compensation, fair values relating to derivative liabilities, debt discounts and the valuation allowance related to deferred tax assets. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

Stock based compensation

The Company measures the cost of services received in exchange for an award of equity instruments based on the fair value of the award. For employees and directors, the fair value of the award is measured on the grant date and for non-employees, the fair value of the award is generally re-measured on vesting dates and interim financial reporting dates until the service period is complete. The fair value amount is then recognized over the period during which services are required to be provided in exchange for the award, usually the vesting period. Stock-based compensation expense is recorded by the Company in the same expense classifications in the consolidated statements of operations, as if such amounts were paid in cash.

Capitalization of Software Development Costs

In accordance with ASC 350-40, the Company capitalizes certain computer software and software development costs incurred in connection with developing or obtaining computer software for internal use when both the preliminary project stage is completed, and it is probable that the software will be used as intended. Capitalized software costs include only (i) external direct costs of materials and services utilized in developing or obtaining computer software, (ii) compensation and related benefits for employees who are directly associated with the software project and (iii) any interest costs incurred while developing internal-use computer software. Capitalized software costs are included in intangible assets on our balance sheet and amortized on a straight-line basis when placed into service over the estimated useful lives of the software.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) established ASC Topic 842, Leases (Topic 842), by issuing ASU No. 2016-02, which requires lessees to recognize leases on-balance sheet and disclose key information about leasing arrangements. Topic 842 was subsequently amended by ASU No. 2018-01, Land Easement Practical Expedient for Transition to Topic 842; ASU No. 2018-10, Codification Improvements to Topic 842, Leases; and ASU No. 2018-11, Targeted Improvements. The new standard establishes a right-of-use (ROU) model that requires a lessee to recognize a ROU asset and lease liability on the balance sheet. Leases will be classified as finance or operating, with classification affecting the pattern and classification of expense recognition in the statement of operations. The Company adopted the new standard on January 1, 2019.

The new standard provides a number of optional practical expedients in transition. The Company has elected the ‘package of practical expedients’, which permit it not to reassess under the new standard its prior conclusions about lease identification, lease classification and initial direct costs. The Company does not expect to elect the use-of-hindsight or the practical expedient pertaining to land easements; the latter is not applicable to the Company.

The new standard will have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements. The most significant effects of adoption relate to (1) the recognition of new ROU assets and lease liabilities on its balance sheet for real estate operating leases; and (2) providing significant new disclosures about its leasing activities.

The new standard also provides practical expedients for an entity’s ongoing accounting. The Company will elect the short-term lease recognition exemption for all leases that qualify. This means, for those leases that qualify, the Company will not recognize ROU assets or lease liabilities, and this includes not recognizing ROU assets or lease liabilities for existing short-term leases of those assets in transition. Beginning in 2019, the Company expects changes to its disclosed lease recognition policies and practices, as well as to other related financial statement disclosures due to the adoption of this standard. These revised disclosures will be made in the Company’s first quarterly report in 2019.

In June 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-07, regarding ASC Topic 718 Compensation - Stock Compensation, which largely aligns the accounting for share-based compensation for non-employees with employees. The guidance is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within that reporting period. Early adoption is permitted. We do not expect the adoption of this standard to have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements.

There are various other updates recently issued, most of which represented technical corrections to the accounting literature or application to specific industries and are not expected to a have a material impact on the Company's financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Not applicable.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Our Financial Statements begin on page F-1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are incorporated herein by reference.

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

Not applicable.

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

Conclusions of Management Regarding Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

At the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K, an evaluation was carried out under the supervision of and with the participation of our management, including our Principal Executive and Financial Officer of the effectiveness of the design and operations of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a – 15(e) and Rule 15d 15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on that evaluation, our Principal Executive and Financial Officer has concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective in ensuring that: (i) information required to be disclosed by the Company in reports that it files or submits to the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in applicable rules and forms and (ii) material information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our CEO and CFO, as appropriate, to allow for accurate and timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due primarily to a material weakness in the segregation of duties and a lack of formalized policies that provide for multiple levels of supervision and reviews in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as discussed below.

Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for the Company (including its consolidated subsidiaries) and all related information appearing in our Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness in future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Management conducted an evaluation of the design and operation of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018, based on the criteria in a framework developed by the Company’s management pursuant to and in compliance with the criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) of the Treadway Commission. This evaluation included review of the documentation of controls, evaluation of the design effectiveness of controls, walkthroughs of the operating effectiveness of controls and a conclusion on this evaluation. Based on this evaluation, management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2018, because management identified a material weakness in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting related to the segregation of duties and a lack of formalized policies that provide for multiple levels of supervision and reviews in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as described below.

The Company concluded it is difficult with a very limited staff to maintain appropriate segregation of duties in the initiating and recording of transactions, thereby creating a segregation of duties weakness. In addition, the Company lacks formalized policies that provide for multiple levels of supervision and reviews. Due to: (i) the significance of segregation of duties to the preparation of reliable financial statements; (ii) the significance of potential misstatement that could have resulted due to the deficient controls; and (iii) the absence of sufficient other mitigating controls, we determined that this control deficiency resulted in more than a remote likelihood that a material misstatement or lack of disclosure within the annual or interim financial statements may not be prevented or detected.

Management’s Remediation Initiatives

This Annual Report does not include an attestation report of the Company’s registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report was not subject to attestation by the Company’s registered public accounting firm pursuant to the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission that permit the Company to provide only Management’s report in this Annual Report.

Management has evaluated, and continues to evaluate, avenues for mitigating our internal controls weaknesses, but mitigating controls to completely mitigate internal control weaknesses have been deemed to be impractical and prohibitively costly, due to the size of our organization at the current time and limited capital resources. Management expects to continue to use reasonable care in following and seeking improvements to effective internal control processes that have been and continue to be in use at the Company. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues within the Company have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple errors or mistakes. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Projections of any evaluation of controls effectiveness to future periods are subject to risks.

Item 9B. Other Information

None.

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

The information required by this item is hereby incorporated by reference to the definitive proxy statement for our 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which proxy statement is anticipated to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2018.

Item 11. Executive Compensation

The information required by this item is hereby incorporated by reference to the definitive proxy statement for our 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which proxy statement is anticipated to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2018.

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners, Management and Related Stockholder Matters

The information required by this item is hereby incorporated by reference to the definitive proxy statement for our 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders scheduled to be held on May 10, 2019, which proxy statement is anticipated to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2018.

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence

The information required by this item is hereby incorporated by reference to the definitive proxy statement for our 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which proxy statement is anticipated to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2018.

Item 14: Principal Accounting Fees and Services

The information required by this item is hereby incorporated by reference to the definitive proxy statement for our 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which proxy statement is anticipated to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2018.

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized on the 27^th day of March 2019.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Dr. Carr Bettis, his attorney-in-fact, with the power of substitution, for him in any and all capacities, to sign any amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and to file the same, with exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, hereby ratifying and confirming all that each of said attorneys-in-fact or his substitute or substitutes, may do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated. 

ITEM 8 – FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

AUDIOEYE, INC.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of

AudioEye, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of AudioEye, Inc. and its subsidiary (collectively the “Company”) as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, and the related consolidated statements of operations, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the years then ended, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 2018 and 2017, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the years then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) ("PCAOB") and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ MaloneBailey, LLP

www.malonebailey.com

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2011.

Houston, Texas

March 27, 2019

AUDIOEYE, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

AUDIOEYE, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

AUDIOEYE, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

TWO YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2018

AUDIOEYE, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

TWO YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2018

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

AUDIOEYE, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

AUDIOEYE, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

NOTE 1 — ORGANIZATION

AudioEye, Inc. (“we”, “our”, the “Company”) was incorporated on May 20, 2005 in the state of Delaware. The Company has developed patented, Internet content publication and distribution software that enables conversion of any media into accessible formats and allows for real time distribution to end users on any Internet connected device. The Company’s focus is to create more comprehensive access to Internet, print, broadcast and other media to all people regardless of their network connection, device, location, or disabilities.

The Company is focused on developing innovations in the field of networked and device embedded audio technology. The Company owns a unique patent portfolio comprised of six issued patents in the United States, a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a seventh patent, and two U.S. patents pending with additional patents being drafted for filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and internationally.

Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “AEYE” since September 4, 2018. Prior to September 4, 2018, our common stock was listed on the OTCQB and the OTC Bulletin Board since April 15, 2013 under the same symbol.

In August 2018, the Company sold 1,000,000 shares of its common stock at $6.25 per share for net proceeds of $5,609,215, after costs and expenses of $640,785 (the “Private Placement”). At the closing of the Private Placement, the Company entered into a registration rights agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) with the investors pursuant to which the Company agreed to register the Shares for resale. On September 4, 2018, the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-1 covering the resale or other disposition of the securities subject to the Registration Rights Agreement.

On August 1, 2018, the Company amended its Articles of Incorporation to implement a reverse stock split in the ratio of 1 share for every 25 shares of common stock and to reduce the number of authorized common stock from 250,000,000 to 50,000,000. As a result, 186,994,384 shares of the Company’s common stock were exchanged for 7,479,775 shares of the Company's common stock. These financial statements have been retroactively restated to reflect the reverse stock split. (See Note 11)

NOTE 2 — MANAGEMENT’S LIQUIDITY PLANS

As of December 31, 2018, the Company had cash of $5,741,549 and working capital of $3,370,983. In addition, the Company used actual net cash in operations of $1,643,854 during the year ended December 31, 2018.

In August 2018, the Company sold 1,000,000 shares of its common stock at $6.25 per share for net proceeds of $5,609,215, after costs and expenses of $640,785. In connection with the October 9, 2015 Note and Warrant Purchase Agreement, the Company has received proceeds from issuance of convertible notes payable of $100,000 in September 2018 and $124,975 in October 2018 (see Note 8). It is anticipated that the Company has cash sufficient to fund operations for the next twelve months.

NOTE 3 — SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Presentation

This summary of significant accounting policies is presented to assist in understanding the Company’s financial statements. These accounting policies conform to accounting principles, generally accepted in the United States of America, and have been consistently applied in the preparation of the financial statements. The Company has a fiscal year ending on December 31. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to current period classification.

Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Empire Technologies, LLC (“Empire”). All significant inter-company accounts and transactions have been eliminated. During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, Empire had no activity. Empire had no assets or liabilities as of December 31, 2018 and 2017. 

AUDIOEYE, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

Revenue Recognition

Revenue is recognized when delivery of the promised goods or services is transferred to its customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration that the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services.

We determine revenue recognition through the following five steps:

Certain Software as a Service (“SaaS”) invoices are prepared on an annual basis. Any funds received for services not provided yet are held in deferred revenue and are recorded as revenue when earned. Subscription revenue is recognized on a ratable basis over the contractual subscription term of the arrangement beginning on the date that our service is made available to the customer. Payments received in advance of services being rendered are recorded as deferred revenue. Any funds received for services not provided yet are held in deferred revenue and are recorded as revenue when earned. We generate substantially all our revenue from subscription services, which are comprised of subscription fees from customer accounts on the Ally Platform.

The following table presents our revenues disaggregated by type of good or service and sales channel:

There were significant changes in contract liabilities balances during the year ended December 31, 2018. The table below summarizes the activity within the deferred revenue accounts, during the year ended December 31, 2018:

As of December 31, 2018, $2,626,712 was classified as short term and is expected to be recognized over the next twelve months. The remaining $402,075 is long-term deferred revenue to be recognized thereafter.

At December 31, 2018, the Company had one customer representing 22% of the outstanding accounts receivable. At December 31, 2017, the Company had five customers representing 18%, 14%, 14%, 13% and 10% (an aggregate of approximately 69%) of the outstanding accounts receivable.

The Company had one major customer including their affiliates which generated approximately 11.8% of its revenue in the year ended December 31, 2018.

The Company had two major customers including their affiliates which generated approximately 28.4% (18.0% and 10.4%) of its revenue in the year ended December 31, 2017.

AUDIOEYE, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in Topic 605, Revenue Recognition, and most industry-specific revenue recognition guidance throughout the Industry Topics of the Accounting Standards Codification. The updated guidance states that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The guidance also provides for additional disclosures with respect to revenues and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. The Company adopted the standard using the modified retrospective approach effective January 1, 2018.

The Company applied Topic 606 using the following practical expedients:

The most significant impact of the standard relates to capitalizing costs to acquire contracts, which have historically been expensed as incurred. As of December 31, 2017, the Company’s sales commission plans have included multiple payments, including initial payments in the period a customer contract is obtained and deferred payments over the life of the contract as future payments are collected from the customers. Under the standard, only the initial payment is subject to capitalization as the deferred payments require a substantive performance condition of the employee. These initial commission payments are now capitalized in the period a customer contract is obtained and payment is received; and will be amortized consistent with the transfer of the goods or services to the customer over the expected period of benefit. The expected period of benefit is the contract term, except when the commission payment is expected to provide economic benefit to the Company for a period longer than the contract term, such as for new customer or incremental sales where renewals are expected, and renewal commissions are not commensurate with initial commissions. Such commissions are amortized over the greater of contract term or technological obsolescence period when the underlying contracted products are technology-based, such as for the SaaS-based platforms, or the expected customer relationship period when the underlying contracted products are not technology-based, such as for patient experience survey products. Upon adoption of Topic 606, the Company reclassified $80,153 from equity previously expensed commissions to deferred costs effective January 1, 2018. See Note 6 below for a summary of activity in the deferred costs account during the year ended December 31, 2018.

Effects of adoption of ASU 2014-09 are as follows:

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue consists primarily of employee-related costs, including payroll, benefits and stock-based compensation expense for our technology operations and customer experience teams, fees paid to our managed hosting providers and other third-party service providers, amortization of capitalized software development costs and acquired technology, and allocated overhead costs.

AUDIOEYE, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Significant estimates include the fair value of the Company’s stock, stock-based compensation, fair values relating to derivative liabilities, debt discounts and the valuation allowance related to deferred tax assets. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

Capitalization of Software Development Costs

In accordance with ASC 350-40, the Company capitalizes certain computer software and software development costs incurred in connection with developing or obtaining computer software for internal use when both the preliminary project stage is completed, and it is probable that the software will be used as intended. Capitalized software costs include only (i) external direct costs of materials and services utilized in developing or obtaining computer software, (ii) compensation and related benefits for employees who are directly associated with the software project and (iii) any interest costs incurred while developing internal-use computer software. Capitalized software costs are included in intangible assets on our balance sheet and amortized on a straight-line basis when placed into service over the estimated useful lives of the software (see Note 5).

Research and Technology Expenses

Research and technology expenses are expensed in the period costs are incurred. For the year ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, research and technology expenses totaled $194,429 and $181,303 respectively.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers cash in savings accounts to be cash equivalents. The Company considers any short-term, highly liquid investments with maturities of three months or less as cash and cash equivalents. There were no cash equivalents as of December 31, 2018 and 2017.

Investments in Equity Securities

The Company has elected the fair value option under ASC 825 for its investments in marketable equity securities. Investments in marketable securities are measured at fair value through earnings and consist of common stock holdings of publicly traded companies. These equity securities are marked to market at the end of each reporting period based on the closing price of the security at each balance sheet date. Changes in fair value are recorded as unrealized gains or losses in the consolidated statement of operations in accordance with ASC 321.

From time to time, the Company invests in the securities of other entities where there exists no active market for the securities held. These strategic investments may consist of non-controlling equity investments in privately held companies. These investments without readily determinable fair values for which the Company does not have the ability to exercise significant influence are accounted for using the measurement alternative. Under the measurement alternative, the non-marketable securities are carried at cost less any impairments, plus or minus adjustments resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for identical or similar investments of the same issuer. Fair value is not estimated for non-marketable equity securities if there are no identified events or changes in circumstances that may have an effect on the fair value of the investment.

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

The Company establishes an allowance for bad debts through a review of several factors including historical collection experience, current aging status of the customer accounts, and financial condition of the Company’s customers. The Company does not generally require collateral for its accounts receivable. During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company incurred $-0- and $3,202 as bad debt expense. There was an allowance for doubtful accounts of $-0- as of December 31, 2018 and 2017.

AUDIOEYE, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are carried at the cost of acquisition or construction and depreciated over the estimated useful lives of the assets. Costs associated with repairs and maintenance are expensed as incurred. Costs associated with improvements which extend the life, increase the capacity or improve the efficiency of the Company’s property and equipment are capitalized and depreciated over the remaining life of the related asset. Gains and losses on dispositions of equipment are reflected in operations. Depreciation is provided using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets, which are 5 to 7 years.

Goodwill, Intangible Assets, and Long-Lived Assets

Goodwill is carried at cost and is not amortized. The Company tests goodwill for impairment on an annual basis at the end of each fiscal year, relying on a number of factors including operating results, business plans, economic projections, anticipated future cash flows and marketplace data. Company management uses its judgment in assessing whether goodwill has become impaired between annual impairment tests according to specifications set forth in ASC 350. The Company completed an evaluation of goodwill at December 31, 2018 and 2017 and determined that there was no impairment.

The fair value of the Company’s reporting unit is dependent upon the Company’s estimate of future cash flows and other factors. The Company’s estimates of future cash flows include assumptions concerning future operating performance and economic conditions and may differ from actual future cash flows. Estimated future cash flows are adjusted by an appropriate discount rate derived from the Company’s market capitalization plus a suitable control premium at date of the evaluation.

The financial and credit market volatility directly impacts the Company’s fair value measurement through the Company’s weighted average cost of capital that the Company uses to determine its discount rate and through the Company’s stock price that the Company uses to determine its market capitalization. Therefore, changes in the stock price may also affect the amount of impairment recorded.

The Company recognizes an acquired intangible asset apart from goodwill whenever the intangible asset arises from contractual or other legal rights, or when it can be separated or divided from the acquired entity and sold, transferred, licensed, rented or exchanged, either individually or in combination with a related contract, asset or liability. Such intangibles are amortized over their useful lives. Impairment losses are recognized if the carrying amount of an intangible asset subject to amortization is not recoverable from expected future cash flows and its carrying amount exceeds its fair value.

The Company reviews its long-lived assets, including property and equipment, identifiable intangibles, and goodwill annually or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the assets may not be fully recoverable. To determine recoverability of its long-lived assets, the Company evaluates the probability that future undiscounted net cash flows will be less than the carrying amount of the assets.

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

The Company’s long-lived assets, including intangibles, are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the historical-cost carrying value of an asset may no longer be appropriate. The Company assesses recoverability of the asset by comparing the undiscounted future net cash flows expected to result from the asset to its carrying value. If the carrying value exceeds the undiscounted future net cash flows of the asset, an impairment loss is measured and recognized. An impairment loss is measured as the difference between the net book value and the fair value of the long-lived asset. Long-lived assets were evaluated for impairment and no impairment losses were incurred during the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Stock based compensation

The Company measures the cost of services received in exchange for an award of equity instruments based on the fair value of the award. For employees and directors, the fair value of the award is measured on the grant date and for non-employees the fair value of the award is generally re-measured on vesting dates and interim financial reporting dates until the service period is complete. The fair value amount is then recognized over the period during which services are required to be provided in exchange for the award, usually the vesting period. Stock-based compensation expense is recorded by the Company in the same expense classifications in the consolidated statements of operations, as if such amounts were paid in cash.

AUDIOEYE, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

Income Taxes

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to temporary differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. These assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which the temporary differences are expected to reverse. 

The Company has net operating loss carryforwards available to reduce future taxable income. Future tax benefits for these net operating loss carryforwards are recognized to the extent that realization of these benefits is considered more likely than not. To the extent that the Company will not realize a future tax benefit, a valuation allowance is established.

Earnings (loss) per Share

Basic earnings (loss) per share is calculated by dividing net income (loss) available to common stockholders by the weighted average number of shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding during the period. “Diluted earnings per share” reflects the potential dilution that could occur if our share-based awards and convertible securities were exercised or converted into common stock. The dilutive effect of our share-based awards is computed using the treasury stock method, which assumes all share-based awards are exercised and the hypothetical proceeds from exercise are used to purchase common stock at the average market price during the period. The incremental shares (difference between shares assumed to be issued versus purchased), to the extent they would have been dilutive, are included in the denominator of the diluted EPS calculation. The dilutive effect of our convertible preferred stock and convertible debentures is computed using the if-converted method, which assumes conversion at the beginning of the year.

Potentially dilutive securities excluded from the computation of basic and diluted net earnings (loss) per share for the year ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 are as follows:

Derivative Instrument Liability

The Company accounts for derivative instruments in accordance with ASC 815, which establishes accounting and reporting standards for derivative instruments and hedging activities, including certain derivative instruments embedded in other financial instruments or contracts and requires recognition of all derivatives on the balance sheet at fair value, regardless of hedging relationship designation. Accounting for changes in fair value of the derivative instruments depends on whether the derivatives qualify as hedging relationships and the types of relationships designated are based on the exposures hedged. At December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company did not have any derivative instruments that were designated as hedges.

In 2017 and prior and in accordance with ASC 815, certain warrants with anti-dilutive provisions were deemed to be derivatives. The value of the derivative instrument will fluctuate with the price of the Company’s common stock and is recorded as a current liability on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet. The change in the value of the liability is recorded as “unrealized gain (loss) on derivative liability” on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU No. 2017-11, Earnings Per Share (Topic 260), Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (Topic 480), Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815). The amendments in Part I of this Update change the classification analysis of certain equity-linked financial instruments (or embedded features) with down round features.

AUDIOEYE, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

When determining whether certain financial instruments should be classified as liabilities or equity instruments, a down round feature no longer precludes equity classification when assessing whether the instrument is indexed to an entity’s own stock. The amendments also clarify existing disclosure requirements for equity-classified instruments. As a result, a freestanding equity-linked financial instrument (or embedded conversion option) no longer would be accounted for as a derivative liability at fair value as a result of the existence of a down round feature. For freestanding equity classified financial instruments, the amendments require entities that present earnings per share (EPS) in accordance with Topic 260 to recognize the effect of the down round feature when it is triggered. That effect is treated as a dividend and as a reduction of income available to common shareholders in basic EPS. Convertible instruments with embedded conversion options that have down round features are now subject to the specialized guidance for contingent beneficial conversion features (in Subtopic 470-20, Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options), including related EPS guidance (in Topic 260). The amendments in Part II of this Update recharacterize the indefinite deferral of certain provisions of Topic 480 that now are presented as pending content in the Codification, to a scope exception.

On January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2017-11 by electing the modified retrospective method to the outstanding financial instruments with a down round feature by means of a cumulative-effect adjustment to the statement of financial position as of the beginning of the fiscal year. Accordingly, the Company reclassified the fair value of the reset provisions embedded in previously issued warrants from liability to equity (accumulated deficit) in aggregate of $2,984,010.

Effects of adoption of ASU 2017-11 modified retrospective are as follows:

Financial Instruments

The carrying amount of the Company’s financial instruments, consisting of cash equivalents, short-term investments, account and notes receivable, accounts and notes payable, short-term borrowings and certain other liabilities, approximate their fair value due to their relatively short maturities.

Fair Value Measurements

Fair value is an estimate of the exit price, representing the amount that would be received to upon the sale of an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants (i.e., the exit price at the measurement date). Fair value measurements are not adjusted for transaction cost. Fair value measurement under generally accepted accounting principles provides for use of a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into three levels:

Level 1: Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2: Inputs other than quoted market prices that are observable, either directly or indirectly, and reasonably available. Observable inputs reflect the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability and are developed based on market data obtained from sources independent of the Company.

AUDIOEYE, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

Level 3: Unobservable inputs reflect the assumptions that the Company develops based on available information about what market participants would use in valuing the asset or liability.

An asset or liability’s level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of any input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Availability of observable inputs can vary and is affected by a variety of factors. The Company uses judgment in determining fair value of assets and liabilities and Level 3 assets and liabilities involve greater judgment than Level 1 and Level 2 assets or liabilities.

In October and November 2015 and April 2017, the Company issued warrants with an exercise price of $2.50 in connection with convertible debt instruments. The five-year warrants also contain a provision that the warrant exercise price will automatically be adjusted for any common stock equity issuances at less than $2.50 per share. The Company determined that the warrants were not afforded equity classification because the warrants are not considered to be indexed to the Company’s own stock due to the anti-dilution provision. Accordingly, the warrants are treated as a derivative liability and are carried at fair value.

The Company estimated the fair value of these derivative warrants at initial issuance and again at each balance sheet date. The changes in fair value are recognized in earnings in the Consolidated Statements of Operations under the caption “unrealized gain/(loss) – derivative liability” until such time as the derivative warrants are exercised or expire. The Company used the Black-Scholes Option Pricing model to estimate the fair value as of the dates of issuance, the price of the Company stock ranged $0.775 to $4.675, volatility was estimated to be 102% to 172%, the risk-free rate ranged 1.14% to 1.79% and the remaining term was 5 years.

In 2016 and 2017, the Company issued warrants with an exercise price of $6.25 in connection with the sale of the Company’s common stock. The five-year warrants also contain a provision that the warrant exercise price will automatically be adjusted for any common stock equity issuances at less than $6.25 per share. The Company determined that the warrants were not afforded equity classification because the warrants are not considered to be indexed to the Company’s own stock due to the anti-dilution provision. Accordingly, the warrants are treated as a derivative liability and are carried at fair value.

The Company estimated the fair value of these derivative warrants at initial issuance and again at each balance sheet date. The changes in fair value are recognized in earnings in the Consolidated Statements of Operations under the caption “unrealized gain/ (loss) – derivative liability” until such time as the derivative warrants are exercised or expire. The Company used the Black-Scholes Option Pricing model to estimate the fair value and as of the dates of issuance, the price of the Company stock ranged $3.80 to $4.875, volatility was estimated to be from 169% to 178%, the risk-free rate ranged 1.22% to 1.87% and the remaining term was 5 years. The estimated initial fair value of these warrants of $6,062 during 2017 was reclassified from equity to liability at the date of issuance.

On May 2, 2017, a warrant holder exercised a warrant to acquire 40,000 shares of the Company’s common stock under a cashless provision. The Company used the Black-Scholes Option Pricing model to estimate the fair value and as of the date of exercise, the price of the Company stock was $5.00, volatility was estimated at 171%, the risk-free rate of 1.45% and the remaining term was 3.4 years. The estimated fair value of the warrant of $184,569 was reclassified from liability to equity at the date of exercise.

In October and November 2017, the Company offered, as an inducement to exercise, to reduce the exercise price of previously issued warrants from $2.50 per share to $1.75 per share. The Company used the Black-Scholes Option Pricing model to estimate the change in fair value and the dates of exercise, the price of the Company’s common stock was $3.475 to $3.8725, volatility estimated from 165% to 166%, risk free rate from 1.60% to 1.99% and remaining term from 2.94 to 4.42 years. The estimated fair value of the change in warrant fair value of $13,262 was charged to current period interest expense. The estimated fair value of the warrants at the dates of exercise of $574,342 was reclassified from liability to equity at the date of exercise(s). In connection with the offering, the exercise price of an aggregate of 71,680 previously issued warrants with anti-dilutive provisions were reset from $6.25 to $1.75 per share

AUDIOEYE, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

DECEMBER 31, 2018 AND 2017

At December 31, 2017, the price of the Company stock was $3.8725, volatility was estimated to be 163.9%, the risk-free rate from 1.98% to 2.20% and the remaining term ranged from 2.77 to 4.03 years. As of December 31, 2017, the fair value of the warrants was determined to be $2,984,010, resulting in an unrealized loss on the change in the fair value of this derivative liability of $155,027 for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU No. 2017-11, Earnings Per Share (Topic 260), Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (Topic 480), Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815). See discussion above. The following are the Company’s assets and liabilities, measured at fair value on a recurring basis, as of December 31, 2018 and 2017: