Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Equity

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Equity
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Equity [Abstract]  
Equity
4. Equity
Common Stock
On July 17, 2012, the Company issued 7,770,000 shares of common stock with no par value and warrants (see first paragraph under warrants below) to its founders and one board member in exchange for the services provided to establish Nemus, valued at approximately $1,000.
In June of 2014, the Company sold 1,800,000 shares of common stock with no par value and warrants for a purchase price of $900,000 (the "June 2014 Stock Purchase Agreement") to a group of private investors. See additional discussion on warrants below.
In August of 2014, the Company sold 2,200,000 shares of common stock with no par value and warrants for a purchase price of $1,100,000 to a group of private investors. See additional discussion on warrants below.
In October of 2014, the Company issued 1,110,000 shares of common stock with no par value to eighteen individual investors that had participated in a prior entity founded by Nemus' then current president. Such entity has been insolvent and not operating since the inception date of Nemus. The issuance of these shares was in exchange for the signing of a release of claims against the Company, its President, and the former entity. The Company recorded a general and administrative expense of $466,200 in the fourth quarter of 2014 to reflect the fair market value of the common stock issued in exchange for the release of claims. The fair market value of the common stock issued was determined via an independent third-party valuation conducted as of October 31, 2014.
In January of 2015, the Company sold 241,663 shares of common stock with par value of $.001 for a purchase price of $724,989 to a group of private investors.
In March of 2015, the Company issued 24,000 shares of common stock with par value of $.001 to a third party in exchange for services to be performed related to raising additional capital. The Company recorded a prepaid expense of $168,000 in the first quarter to reflect the fair market value of the common stock issued and is amortizing this expense over the contract service period which is one year. The fair market value was determined utilizing the Company's closing stock price as of the commencement date of the contract service period. For the three months ended March 31, 2015, the Company amortized $29,800 to general and administrative expense.
Preferred Stock
The Company has authorized 20,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a par value of $0.001 per share; there were no shares issued or outstanding as of March 31, 2015 and 2014. In March of 2015, the Company's Board of Directors authorized the sale of up to 1,000,000 shares of this Preferred Stock under the Series A Stock Purchase Agreement.  The Preferred Stock has liquidation preferences and includes automatic conversion to common stock in conjunction with the next round of equity financing or six months after the Series A closing date, whichever is sooner.  See Note 6 regarding Subsequent Events – Preferred Stock and Warrant Issuance.
Warrants
On July 17, 2012, the Company issued warrants to purchase up to 3,000,000 shares of our common stock to its founders and two advisors in consideration for services provided in the start-up of operations. The warrants are exercisable at a price of $1.00 per share and expire on June 20, 2023. The Company valued these warrants utilizing the Black-Scholes valuation model and they were determined to be of nominal value given the start-up nature of the Company's operations at the time of grant.
In conjunction with the June 2014 Stock Purchase Agreement, the Company issued warrants to purchase up to 450,000 shares of common stock to a group of private investors. The warrants are exercisable at a price of $1.00 per share and expire on June 12, 2020. The Company valued these warrants at $85,500. This amount was recorded as warrants and was reclassified from the total consideration received for both the common stock and warrants purchased.
In August 2014 as part of the June 2014 Stock Purchase Agreement, the Company issued warrants to purchase up to 550,000 shares of common stock with an exercise price of $1.00 per share that expire in August 2020. The Company valued these warrants at $104,500. This amount was recorded as warrants and was reclassified from the total consideration received for both the common stock and warrants purchased.
In March 2015, the Company entered into an agreement with a financial advisory and public relations consulting firm which contemplates the issuance of warrants to purchase up to 90,000 shares of common stock with an exercise price of $2.50 per share with a term of five years. These warrants would be issued in exchange for services performed in the first quarter and had not been issued as of March 31, 2015. The Company estimated the warrant value to be $63,200 utilizing the Black Scholes option pricing model and amortized $20,000 for services provided to that date. Upon issuing of the warrants, the Company will adjust the fair market value based on the grant date and then will re-measure based on the vesting terms and at each quarter end.
The Company's Board of Directors considered various objective and subjective factors, along with input from management, to determine the fair value of the warrants, including:
· Contemporaneous valuation prepared by an independent third-party valuation specialist effective as of June 30, 2014 and October 31, 2014,
· Its results of operations, financial position and the status of research and development efforts and achievement of enterprise milestones,
· The composition of, and changes to, the Company's management team and board of directors,
· The lack of liquidity of its common stock as a private company,
· The Company's stage of development, business strategy and the material risks related to its business and industry,
· The valuation of publicly-traded companies in the biotechnology sectors,
· External market conditions affecting the biotechnology industry sectors,
· The likelihood of achieving a liquidity event for the holders of its common stock, such as an initial public offering ("IPO") or a sale of the Company, given prevailing market conditions, and
· The state of the IPO market for similarly situated privately held biotechnology companies.
There are significant judgments and estimates inherent in the determination of the fair value of the Company's warrants. These judgments and estimates include the assumptions regarding its future operating performance, the time to completing an IPO or other liquidity event and the determination of the appropriate valuation methods. If the Company had made different assumptions, its warrant valuation could have been significantly different.
Stock Option Plans: 2014 Omnibus Incentive Plan
The 2014 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the "2014 Plan") was adopted to provide a means by which officers, non-employee directors, and employees of and consultants to the Company and its affiliates could be given an opportunity to acquire an equity interest in the Company. All officers, non-employee directors, and employees of and consultants to the Company are eligible to participate in the 2014 Plan.
On October 31, 2014, after the closing of the Merger, our Board of Directors approved the 2014 Plan. The 2014 Plan reserved 3,200,000 shares for future grants. As of March 31, 2015, options (net of canceled or expired options) covering an aggregate of 1,770,000 shares of the Company's common stock had been granted under the 2014 Plan, and the Company had 1,770,000 options outstanding and 1,430,000 shares available for future grants under the 2014 Plan.
Options granted under the 2014 Plan expire no later than 10 years from the date of grant. Options granted under the 2014 Plan may be either incentive or non-qualified stock options. For incentive and non-qualified stock option grants, the option price shall be at least 100% of the fair value on the date of grants, as determined by the Company's Board of Directors. If at any time the Company grants an option, and the optionee directly or by attribution owns stock possessing more than 10% of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock of the Company, the option price shall be at least 110% of the fair value and shall not be exercisable more than five years after the date of grant.
Options granted under the 2014 Plan may be immediately exercisable if permitted in the specific grant approved by the Board of Directors and, if exercised early may be subject to repurchase provisions. The shares acquired generally vest over a period of five years from the date of grant. The Company granted options to purchase 1,770,000 shares through March 31, 2015, under the 2014 Plan. 
The following is a summary of activity under the 2014 Plan as of March 31, 2015:
       
OPTIONS OUTSTANDING
 
   
Shares Available
for Grant
   
# of Shares
   
Price per Share
   
Wtd Average
Exercise Price
 
Balance at December 31, 2013
               
Approval of authorized shares
   
3,200,000
             
Options granted
   
(1,730,000
)
   
1,730,000
   
$
0.42
   
$
0.42
 
Options exercised
                               
Options cancelled
                               
Balance at December 31, 2014
   
1,470,000
     
1,730,000
   
$
0.42
   
$
0.42
 
Options granted
   
(40,000
)
   
40,000
   
$
3.00
   
$
3.00
 
Options exercised
   
-
     
-
                 
Options cancelled
   
-
     
-
                 
Balance at March 31, 2015
   
1,430,000
     
1,770,000
   
$
0.48
   
$
0.48
 
The weighted average remaining contractual life in years of the options outstanding as of March 31, 2015 was 9.62 years.
Aggregate intrinsic value is the sum of the amounts by which the quoted market price of the Company's stock exceeded the exercise price of the stock options at March 31, 2015 for those stock options for which the quoted market price was in excess of the exercise price ("in-the-money options"). As of March 31, 2015, the aggregate intrinsic value of options outstanding was $6,233,400. As of March 31, 2015, no options to purchase shares of common stock were exercisable.
Stock Based Compensation Expense
The Company recognizes stock-based compensation expense based on the fair value of that portion of stock options that are ultimately expected to vest during the period. Stock-based compensation expense recognized in the consolidated statement of operations includes compensation expense for stock-based awards based on the estimated grant date fair value over the requisite service period. For the three months ended March 31, 2015, the Company recognized stock-based compensation expense of $136,648 which was recorded as a general and administrative expense in the consolidated statement of operations. For the three months ended March 31, 2014, stock-based compensation expense was $0.
The total amount of unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested stock options was $2,183,780 as of March 31, 2015. This amount will be recognized over a weighted average period of 4.62 years. 
Valuation Assumptions
The fair value of options was estimated at the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. Expected volatility is based on the historical volatility of the Company's common stock for similar terms. The expected term was estimated using the simplified method as permitted under SAB No. 110, since the Company has no recent exercise or forfeiture history that is representative of options granted during the year. The expected term represents the estimated period of time that stock options are expected to be outstanding, which is less than the contractual term which is generally ten years. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield. The expected dividend yield is zero, as the Company does not anticipate paying dividends in the near future. The weighted average assumptions for employee options are as follows:
 
Three Month Ended March 31,
 
2015
 
2014
Dividend yield
0.00%
 
NA
Volatility factor
75.00%
 
NA
Risk-free interest rate
1.68%
 
NA
Expected term (years)
6.5
 
NA
Weighted-average fair value of options granted during the periods
$6.08
 
NA