LEASES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

NOTE 15 - LEASES

The Company leases offices space under non-cancellable operating leases. The Company considers those renewal or termination options that are reasonably certain to be exercised in the determination of the lease term and initial measurement of right of use assets and lease liabilities. Lease expense for lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Leases with an initial term of 12 months or less are not recorded on the balance sheets.

The Company determines whether a contract is or contains a lease at inception of the contract and whether that lease meets the classification criteria of a finance or operating lease.

The Company’s lease agreements do not contain any material residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants.

A summary of lease cost recognized in the Company’s consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss is as follows:

	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2023		2022
Operating leases cost excluding short-term rental expense	$	4,745,560	$	1,616,853
Short-term lease cost		809,894		238,386
Total	$	5,555,454	$	1,855,239

A summary of supplemental information related to operating leases is as follows:

	December 31, 2023			December 31, 2022
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities	$	4,012,410		$	1,108,721
Weighted average remaining lease term	6.13 years			8.36 years
Weighted average discount rate		6.33	%		4.27	%

The Company’s lease agreements do not have a discount rate that is readily determinable. The incremental borrowing rate is determined at lease commencement or lease modification and represents the rate of interest the Company would have to pay to borrow on a collateralized basis over a similar term and an amount equal to the lease payments in a similar economic environment.

The following table summarizes the maturity of lease liabilities under operating leases as of December 31, 2023:

For the year ending December 31,	Operating Leases
2024	$	4,908,465
2025		4,127,389
2026		4,180,335
2027		4,221,505
2028		2,176,965
2029 and thereafter		5,784,794
Total lease payments		25,399,453
Less: imputed interest		4,318,235
Total	$	21,081,218
Less: current portion		4,741,599
Non-current portion		16,339,619